Unibet Ambassador and top trainer, Nicky Henderson gives an update on a whole host of stable stars, plus his runners at Cheltenham over the weekend.
“…Altior’s work was extraordinary and we’ll enter at Haydock and Ascot…”
YOU don’t need me to tell you how much rain we’ve had over the past month and it’s a real shame that Cheltenham was abandoned today but in all fairness I don’t think it’s stopped raining since their last meeting, so Simon Claisse and his ground staff were always going to be up against it.
We had the likes of Angels Breath, Mister Fisher, Birchdale & Precious Cargo all ready to run, but sadly we will have to wait for another day, although where that will be I don’t know. I contacted the BHA to ask if they could run the novice chase on Saturday/Sunday and I know there weren’t many runners and we had half the field, so I am biased, but unfortunately they were unable to do so, in which case I may end up having to run them in a novelty race rather than a proper test. I could even end up having four runners in the same race, a 2m3f novice chase, at Ascot next week which isn’t really good for anyone.
We enjoyed a good few days last week, with several winners and it was good to get Santini back out, but Nico did comment on his wind, when he came back in and when you run horses on very soft ground like it was there, you will get them to make noises that you’ll never hear anywhere else and it’s not something you can see on a scope, so we have not messed about and he’s gone straight in to have his palate cauterised. I’m just thinking there may be something there so it makes sense to get it out of the way now while he’s fit and it seems the sensible thing to do. He’ll have five days box rest, five days on the walker and then we can crack on again. It’s a very minor wind ‘op’ and the point to remember is this is a soft palate cauterisation and he has NOT been hobdayed which is a completely different procedure altogether. He was never going to run in the King George so we aren’t losing out there and the plan is very much to get him ready for the Cotswold Chase on Trials Day which is what we were always thinking anyway.
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Fusil Raffles did what he had to do in the Unibet Elite Hurdle at Wincanton last Saturday without winning in quite the style many thought he would. As I said beforehand, he wasn’t fully tuned up and it materialized that he was very short, so he’ll come on a bundle for the run. Luckily at the moment we have a strong hand in the hurdling division and much of it depends on Buveur D’air who subsequently worked very well this morning under Barry Geraghty (with Pentland Hills and Altior and the plan is still to head up to Newcastle for the Fighting Fifth, although I have no idea where Fusil will run next, but I suppose the G1 Christmas Hurdle would certainly come into the equation. Whether he runs before that, I don’t know just yet.
Pentland Hills is in great form and will have a racecourse gallop at Newbury on Tuesday, which will hopefully get him ready for the Unibet International Hurdle at Cheltenham next month. He does hold an entry at Kempton on Wednesday but there is pretty much zero chance he’ll be running.
We’ll be taking a few horses to Newbury on Tuesday for their press morning, including Ok Corral, Brave Eagle and quite possibly Might Bite may even have a spin around there. We could be quite well represented in the Ladbrokes Trophy as Ok Corral, Brave Eagle, On The Blind Side and Beware The Bear are all very likely to take their chance, but I’m still undecided about Diablo De Rouhet.
It’s the Betfair Chase next Saturday and we have a few entries, but Altior’s work this morning was quite extraordinary and he’s absolutely flying and ready to go, so I think we are going to have to enter him for both races next week (at the five day stage on Monday), because if we get much more of this rain it could end up horrific at Ascot, but the same can be said for Haydock so we need to keep our options open. I would like to make a suggestion that they could make a race up my Farringdon Road gallop where they can go up twice and I’ll get the fences erected but I’m not sure the BHA would agree to that!
We’ll get the weather forecast on Monday and if it’s predicted to be heavy we will certainly keep him in the Betfair Chase as he definitely has to run next weekend to give us enough time to get into the King George. I was keen to start him off over 2m4f/5f but it’s only a few furlongs further at Haydock and I am trying to talk myself into it, but we’ll just have to see.
We have pretty much decided that Valtor will not take his chance and will instead run in a novice hurdle on the same day and Nico and I are in a disagreement with regards to Might Bite, as I want to go to Aintree for the Many Clouds Chase but he wants to take him to Huntingdon for the Peterborough Chase but one thing’s for sure, he will definitely be running that weekend! The plan is still for Top Notch to run in the Peterborough and Janika remains on course for the Tingle Creek.
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CHELTENHAM – SATURDAY
3:30pm Handicap Hurdle
Falco Blitz (Nico De Boinville)
I don’t really know if he’ll go on this ground, I suspect not, but if you don’t try you don’t know, so we’re giving it a go and he’s been in very good form at home. He won quite well at Fakenham the other day and as a second season novice who didn’t win last year, he went there with plenty of experience which really helped and interestingly the handicapper didn’t put him up at all, so while he’s got a mark like that (128) I thought we better try to make use of it rather than run in a novice, because I think his rating is very fair.
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CHELTENHAM – SUNDAY
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3:00pm Unibet Greatwood Hurdle
I do like this filly and she’s been working very well. Her run in the County Hurdle was excellent, although she did go up a fair bit for it in the weights, so I’m not sure how well treated she is but she won’t mind the ground and has a solid each way chance.
Dame De Compagnie (Barry Geraghty)
Barry just feels that she is more likely to cope with the ground better than the other filly, which is why he’s chosen her, but I’m not convinced as Countister handles it pretty well, too. I asked Barry if he wanted the hood on again and he said we could take it off, but if we found out it didn’t work and she got buzzed up and raced too keen, it would be rather annoying so we’re keeping it on as it does no harm. She’s schooled over fences so we may switch to the larger obstacles in time bit this is a good prize and as she hasn’t run for a while we thought we’d go straight in and have a crack at this pot.
4:00pm Bumper
Time Flies By (Barry Geraghty)
He didn’t mind the soft ground at all when he won at Cheltenham last month so I can’t use that as an excuse and he has come on plenty for his debut. He’s a hardy youngster and we’ll try this to see where his future lies for the rest of the season, whether we go novice hurdling or keep him to bumpers, but he is definitely a horse with an extremely bright future and this race will tell us plenty.
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Article by Trainer and Unibet Ambassador Nicky Henderson and used with kind permission by the Unibet Blog.
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