Will Constitution Hill rediscover electrifying best after startling dip in form?

Nicky Henderson’s star hurdler needs to bounce back on Saturday after another poor performance at Punchestown

The venerable Timeform organisation used a well-chosen four-letter word to describe Constitution Hill’s performance in the Boodles Champion Hurdle at Punchestown in early May, when the top-rated hurdler of recent decades started as the odds-on favourite but finished fifth of the six runners. It was, the firm’s post-race analysis said, a “disconcertingly tame display”.

Tame. Ouch. It is not a word that could ever have been applied to the first dozen races of Constitution Hill’s career, which ranged from the electrifying, effortless brilliance of his first two seasons to the high drama of falls at Cheltenham and Aintree earlier this year. He travelled well enough to three out, but when Nico de Boinville shook the reins, Constitution Hill had nothing more to give. He eventually trailed home 27 lengths behind the winner, beaten when completing for the first time in his career.