Nicky Henderson’s guide to his probable Cheltenham Festival runners
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Version 0 of 1. Nicky Henderson is the most successful trainer in Cheltenham Festival history, with 50 subsequent winners at the meeting since Since You Then gave him his first in the 1985 Champion Hurdle. He has won all four of the meeting’s feature events – the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, World Hurdle and Champion Chase – on at least two occasions. He will send about 30 horses to this year’s meeting. Tuesday 10 MarchSky Bet Supreme Novice Hurdle L’Ami Serge I think he’s very good. It would be perfect if he could go and hit the target in race one and it’s amazing what that does. It takes the pressure off. I don’t know why but it just lets it all happen from then on. I hear that Willie [Mullins’] horse [Douvan] is the best he’s ever had. I’m not going to say that L’Ami Serge is the best I’ve ever had but he’s pretty good and he’s looked good in all his starts. He’s very professional and he’s got everything you’d look for. Maybe there’s this horse in [the race] that’s unbeatable but we’ll start with that anyway and kick on from there. Racing Post Arkle Chase Josses Hill Barry [Geraghty, Henderson’s stable jockey] is very keen on him. I said to him, do you want to switch to [the] two-and-a-half-[mile JLT Novice Chase] because he’d get [the trip] and he said no. He schooled on Friday and he was really good. He’ll probably have one more [session with jumping tutor] Yogi [Breisner] and one more school back over fences. He’s in good form and he’s a good horse. This time last year Josses Hill wasn’t going to go there 10 days before and he got there, and got as close as you can get, and then he won at Aintree. He’s had a good prep and he’s coming in really well. I know he’s got [to beat the hot favourite] Un De Sceaux but Barry wasn’t for switching to the other race because of that. Barry says he wants [the pace] the faster the better. That’s why he doesn’t want to switch because he won’t be able to let him jump as he wants to. He’s actually a brilliant jumper [despite making significant mistakes in previous races this season] and he’s got great scope. He just needs to learn to put it all together. They’re going to go quick and it’s going to test everybody. Un De Sceaux has got to do it as well and it’s going to be a fascinating race. Stan James Champion Hurdle Vaniteux I still think he’s a very good horse and he’s very well. Good ground would be important to him and he hasn’t had it yet this year. If he could get some decent ground Vaniteux is very much there. OLBG Mares’ Hurdle Polly Peachum CHAPS Novice Handicap Chase Cocktails At Dawn Golden Hoof Wednesday 11 MarchCoral Cup Bears Affair Hammersly Lake Lyvius Volnay De Thaix Rolling Star Queen Mother Champion Chase Sprinter Sacre We’re as optimistic and hopeful as we can be that he’s going to be somewhere near his best. He’s certainly going to be competitive and we hope that he’s going to be good enough. He was all class and show and quality at Cheltenham, and then Aintree and Punchestown [in the spring of 2013] and the whole thing got very big – and quite rightly. It was a spectacular time and it was moving really that a horse can get to such a level and it’s always sad when they can’t carry it on. Last year was definitely a mega-blip. Like any horse, you just can’t force it. Nature is what it’s all about. You can put some fertiliser on the grass but you can’t really make flowers come out when they don’t want to come out. It’s just a matter of a bit of patience. Thursday 12 MarchPertemps Handicap Hurdle Final Dawalan We tried him over three miles at Musselburgh [on 1 February] and good ground was probably the crux of [his impressive success]. He’s won his last three starts and he’s been doing it well but that was the easiest he found it. The trip helped him but I think the ground helped him even more than that. He’s got as high [in the weights] as he needs to be, to be honest. Ryanair Chase Ma Filleule She ran a very good race at Ascot the other day and I think the Ryanair will suit her well. She won the Topham [Trophy at Aintree] last year and only just got beaten by Holywell [in a handicap chase] at Cheltenham [last March]. Two and a half [miles] is a good trip for her. She was wrong all through Christmas and she’s coming to herself now. She was beaten by Balder Succes [another Ryanair contender, at Ascot] but they’re going to be pretty closely matched. We’ve got pretty good reason to think we can at least be on a par with him and he’s at the front of the contest as well. I think she’s very realistic. Ladbrokes World Hurdle Blue Fashion Whisper They will both work at Kempton [on Tuesday] and they will both be going to the World Hurdle. The original plan was to go novice chasing but Whisper had a tough time last back end. Maybe it just got to him a little bit. He jumped all right at Exeter but there was no point going on doing that. I think he’s coming to himself and we’ll see what happens tomorrow. With Beat That [a third Henderson entry] I think we’re going to have to say enough is enough [this season]. I’ve been trying to get him there all along and it hasn’t really worked. We’re going to put him away and wait for novice chasing next year. Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate Handicap Chase Ericht Hunt Ball Friday 13 MarchJCB Triumph Hurdle Peace And Co Hargam Top Notch Peace And Co is nicely relaxed now and I think he learned a lot at Cheltenham last time. It was a messy race and some said he didn’t look the same visually as he did at Doncaster first time but we had to do it that way. He’s done his last two bits of work in behind horses and been very relaxed and quiet, and he schooled very well on Friday. He’s learned a lot. He only had one run in France before he went to Doncaster [in December] and that’s when we were trying to learn a bit about him. Hargam won at Cheltenham [in December] in soft ground but AP [McCoy] said then that he’d like to see him on better ground and he was a good horse at Musselburgh [last time out]. Top Notch is a good, hardy, very professional staying type of horse. He won at Newbury [first time] and that was all right but I think he’s got better. Whatever the race was worth at Haydock [when he won at long odds-on in mid-February] he was very impressive and I thought he was very professional. I think that’s his secret weapon. He’s got a bit of experience in that he’d won a couple of times before we started. Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle Cool Macavity Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle Vyta Du Roc Caracci Apache Out Sam Vyta Du Roc has had a very good season and the only time he was beaten was in a Grade One by Parlour Games. I think going up to three miles in the Albert Bartlett will help him as he has been going through flat spots in his races. Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup Bobs Worth Things have gone according to plan. He did get a bit sick coming back from Ireland but we’ve had everything right now for a good three weeks. If the ground isn’t too bad, the plan is to go to Newbury on Sunday [for a racecourse gallop] because, for him, grass and a galloping track would be more useful for him than Kempton. I’m going to hope that it’s not bottomless but we’ve got contingency plans [if it is]. We always said that, if he was anywhere on the premises at the last [fence in the Gold Cup], you wanted to be backing him because five or six times he’d galloped straight up the hill and [last year’s race, when Bobs Worth finished fifth] was the first time he hasn’t. Some Gold Cup winners come back for more and some put so much into it. Bob had been there for three Festivals and that’s a tough thing to do. What he lacks in talent he puts together with putting his heart and soul into the whole thing. He hasn’t got the class of [horses like] Sprinter Sacre and Simonsig but by God he tries and, if you have to dig as deep as he does sometimes, it does take a lot out of them. Martin Pipe Conditionals’ Handicap Hurdle Full Shift Royal Irish Hussar Theinval Mayfair Music Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase Tanks For That French Opera |