Ruby Walsh was impressed with Constitution Hill at Kempton and thinks he'll be sharper for having that run under his belt.
He was speaking on Paddy Power Media’s From The Horse’s Mouth podcast Cheltenham Countdown, alongside host Tom Nugent and Rory Delargy.
He explained: "I thought he was very good – he’s entitled (to improve) like any horse, now I don’t necessarily agree with the percentage figures that are trotted out that he was 80% or 85% fit as I think in this day and age, horses are much closer to a 100%, but they’re still not a 100% as without match practice you can’t be at 100%.
"So I do think Constitution Hill will have improved, but what he shows you through the first 14 furlongs was all the old Constitution Hill. The way he travelled, the way he jumped, the swagger he had, now he didn’t open up then and go and win 12 lengths like he used to but he was entitled to need the run a little bit.
"Burdett Road was hard fit from running on the Flat and a good win in the Greatwood, Lossiemouth had won the Hatton’s Grace so I think he was trying to run away from really good horses but he still got away from them and still beat them and I loved what I saw.
"I just loved the way he travelled, there was a good even tempo. I don’t for one minute think that it was a breakneck gallop, I thought it was a good solid even gallop and I loved what you saw about him. He had the right vibe, didn’t he?"
Lossiemouth was never able to land a blow in second at Kempton and Walsh admits she's needs to have learned some lessons to have a chance of reversing the form in March.
"Obviously she hasn’t done a whole pile since and neither has State Man since he ran at Christmas – we’re only about two weeks after that event and they’re both riding out and they both seem fine and there’s not a bother on them," he said.
"I think Lossiemouth just got an education, that’s what it looked like to me. They jumped and went in the Christmas Hurdle. She’s been sauntering up to the first hurdle in a couple of races in Ireland whereas they jumped out and went at Kempton and they just got her on the backfoot from the word go.
"I thought she jumped the first very high which is unlike her and Paul was really having to roust her away from the stands to jump the third and fourth hurdle and she got on their tails at the third last purely because Burdett Road in front slowed down and Constitution Hill was sat behind him. That allowed Lossiemouth to get on their tails, but they left her again off the bend and she did keep plugging away behind them. But she has to improve for that, that run has to have sharpened her up and improve her. Will it?
"I don’t necessarily know will it? And add in King Of Kingsfield going along, there’s a likely chance you’ll have Burdett Road in the Champion Hurdle too. And he’ll go with King Of Kingsfield so it could be a really strongly run race. But she’ll have to have learnt a lot from her Kempton run to make her competitive in the Champion."
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