Nico de Boinville has addressed those who said ‘no’ to Constitution Hill following concerns over the 2023 Champion Hurdle winner’s gallop performance at Newbury this week.

The Nicky Henderson star was seen in public on Tuesday for the first time since he was taken to work at Kempton in February after it emerged he was suffering from an infection that ruled him out of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.

Teaming up with Sir Gino, long-time favorite for last year’s Triumph Hurdle, De Boinville was visibly working hard in the final minutes of practice at Newbury, causing the price for this month’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle to drop from 4/6 to 5/6.

Speaking alongside Matt Chapman and Paddy Brennan in episode 1 of At The Races’ new jumping show Unbridled, De Boinville said: “We would have expected a bit more but I’d like to think he could have brought it yesterday (Tuesday) a lot.

“He just has one more job to do, that’s all.

“To all the nay-sayers out there: It’s a good price right now, right?”

Expressing concern about the ease of removing Constitution Hill after the line, Brennan told Chapman: “It was a great run down to the far mark. If you stopped to watch it there you’d be really impressed.”

“The kicker of this is, if you watch the horse cross the line and watch Nico drop the revs, you’ll see him stand up in three strides. That’s the worrying part for me.”

“The best thing about Nicky (Henderson) is that he doesn’t hide behind anything. He worked on the horse with Sir Gino, who is a serious horse.”

Chapman said: “What worried me was that James Bowen, riding Sir Gino, appeared to be pulling him back to allow Constitution Hill to catch up.

“If Nico had suddenly raised the whip on Constitution Hill, I don’t think he would have suddenly rushed forward.”

Watch Unbridled every Wednesday on the At The Races YouTube channel.