Sarah Humphrey expects the nature of the demanding jumping test at Sandown Park to play into the hands of stable star Nickle Back, who she believes has ‘every chance’ of making a triumphant Grade One debut in the Virgin Bet Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase on Saturday.
Since switching to fences this season the eight-year-old gelding has improved beyond all recognition winning two of his four starts over the larger obstacles in impressive fashion along with finishing second on his most recent two outings upped to Grade Two level.
Despite Nickle Back finding one too strong in both the Coral John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury and the Ladbrokes Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton Park both were defeats that Humphrey feels show he belongs at graded race level.
And now the West Wratting-based handler hopes the son of Mustameet can turn those recent silver medals into gold at the weekend when returning to his optimum trip of two and a half miles in the £100,000 prize.
Humphrey said: “We are going back to two and half miles for the Scilly Isles and I think he will love Sandown. I think he is slightly better right handed than left handed as he slightly goes right handed. He will love the big fences there, and he will get into that rhythm and go.
“We will see how good he is over what I think is his best distance so let’s hope it comes off. He has had two second place finishes in graded races so hopefully he can get a win in one. I’m very happy with his jumping, and as long as you don’t interfere with him and get him popping away he will jump the moon. I think the bigger the jumping test the better it is for him. He is very quick over his fences.
“Nickle Back deserves to be there and has every chance of winning. I’m enjoying it and I feel like this horse deserves to be there and I deserve to be there.”
While looking forward to having a runner back at the top table one thing Humphrey admits will not be happening anytime soon is buckling into pressure from others in the sport as to what distance to run Nickle Back over following his latest defeat dropped back to two miles.
She added: “He did make one or two little mistakes at Newbury and that did just cost him, but at the end of the day Hermes Allen and Nickle Back were a long way clear of everything else. We were very pleased with that run, but I then came under a lot of pressure to drop him back to two miles from other trainers, jockeys and anybody who knew anything about racing. I even had emails from people I don’t know.
“I wasn’t sure about it as I didn’t think he was fast enough. In the end James (Best, jockey) and I said we will give it a go to see who is right. My worry was that instead of getting an easy lead he would have horses that were equally as fast as him that would light him up.
“We go to Kempton and the horse Brendan Powell was on (Bourbali) went flat out, but then James couldn’t hold Nickle as he did exactly what I thought he would do. It was almost game over by the third fence. After that I said to James we are going back to two and a half miles and he agreed.”
Like all high-quality individuals, Nickle Back has his quirks according to Humphrey, however he also appears to have a mischievous side to his character.
She added: “Like all these elite people he has his quirks, and you have to deal with them, but the team do a good job. He does wear a hood at home, and he is on the quiet part of the yard, but I think he has grown up a lot. In the summer they are all basically left out in the field, and he does jump out of his field quite a lot. He just trots up to the five-bar gate and thinks I don’t want to be in here. He will go and see anybody!
“He does do some silly things. Up in the stables we have these two sand pens and the other day he was having a real game rolling around, jumping and standing on his hind legs and going right up. The barn has strip lights and he hit his nose on the end of one and gave himself a fright. He shot backwards and he then lost his balance, sat on his bottom and fell on his side. It is all about keeping his head in the right place.”
It has been a case of playing the patient game with Nickle Back for Humphrey and her team since he showed a glimpse of his potential when bolting up by 30 lengths at Fontwell on his second start over hurdles.
However, Humphrey admits that being in the current position she finds herself in with Nickle Back was something she didn’t think would be possible after his comeback effort over hurdles at Cheltenham last season.
She said: “We wanted to run him before going to the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham last season, but we never got that run in and it was just all too much for him. I didn’t think looking back at that day at Cheltenham we would ever be talking about Grade One races for him. I thought he would be a nice handicap chaser around the 130 mark.
“When we went to Warwick first time out over fences this season he was either going jump it well or take the roots out and thankfully he did the former. He was still quite worked up in the paddock at Warwick so I thought we will give him another quiet run. We went to Stratford as it is a bit like Warwick where they go straight out onto the track from the paddock. He basically did the same thing so that was lovely.
“It was after the Stratford race I thought he could cope mentally with the bigger and buzzier days like what he has encountered on his last two starts. I was very pleased that I sent him to Stratford as that was very important to him and I think that is the reason why he is able to run in races like this now.”
Plenty of attention is rightly given to Nickle Back in his role as stable flagbearer, however Humphrey is enjoying a solid campaign of which a victory at the top level would be a fitting reward she insists for the work put in by her small but select team of staff.
She added: “I don’t want to jinx things but we have managed to keep them sound, happy and healthy and I’ve got a good team of people who really care about the horses.
“Everything is gelling and coming together at the right time and the horses are very happy.
“We also changed the surface on our gallop to make it a bit deeper. They work harder and don’t have to go so fast. They were fit before, but now they are stronger and I think that has helped. You are always looking for those margins.
“I have good jockeys ride for me and that helps build confidence and makes the horses believe they can do it.
“I am excited about the Scilly Isles, and so are the staff, and it would be just amazing if we could win this as we would definitely have a big party.”
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