Champ aiming to regain Long Walk crown at Ascot on Saturday

Owned by JP McManus, the soon-to-be 12-year-old won the race two years ago under Jonjo O’Neill jnr and he has maintained the partnership ever since.

Famously named after former champion jockey AP McCoy, Champ was a dual Grade One-winning novice hurdler as well as winning a Grade One novice chase at Cheltenham, beating Minella Indo and Allaho in dramatic style.

He will be making his first appearance of the season at Ascot but that is by design, with Henderson confident he is at his best fresh.

“He’s actually very good. He’s one of our real friends, he’s been here a long, long time,” Henderson told Sky Sports Racing.

“He’s lived up to his name in a lot of ways and you couldn’t have a nicer horse.

“He’s very laid back at home, he doesn’t show you an awful lot and he loves to be fresh.

“Last year we started at Newbury when he had a fantastic battle with Paisley Park and then came to the Long Walk, but we’ve always thought he’s possibly best first time out, so we kept him back from Newbury to have a crack at this again.

“Last year after the Long Walk we decided not to go to Cheltenham and keep him for Aintree, but it didn’t really work.

“He works with another old friend, On The Blind Side, who ran a fantastic race at Sandown the other day and they do all their work together but you can hardly call it work, they just go through the motions enjoying themselves.”

With fellow veterans Dashel Drasher and Paisley Park in opposition along with some much younger rivals, Henderson is looking forward to the race.

He said: “You are never confident about any of these Grade One races, it’s going to be very competitive and you can be pretty sure it will be a solid gallop with Dashel Drasher there.

“Paisley will be lurking around, one minute you think you’ve got him covered and then he’ll suddenly reappear at the death – it should be good.”

Moore chances

Botox Has will spearhead Gary Moore’s Howden Long Walk Hurdle challenge on Saturday, with stable stalwart Goshen also poised to line-up at Ascot.

The former produced arguably a career best when claiming Wetherby’s Grade Two West Yorkshire Hurdle last month and his handler has been waiting for a crack at this Grade One ever since.

The form of that race has a strong look with Jeremy Scott’s reopposing Wetherby third Dashel Drasher getting the better of three-time Long Walk hero Paisley Park at Newbury and Moore is now keen to see if Botox Has can back up that performance and cement his place as one of the leading players in a wide-open division.

“I’m looking forward to running him and the form is working out well,” said Moore.

“Hopefully he is as good as he was that day at Wetherby but time will tell.

“He’s always been a fair horse and he was probably one of the best English horses during his juvenile year – if it had not been for Goshen he would have been the top four-year-old, he’s always been a good horse.

“He didn’t really take to chasing but has done well reverting back to hurdles.”

The race also offers a huge opportunity to conditional jockey Caoilin Quinn, who was aboard Botox Has when winning a valuable handicap at Haydock last season and when striking at Wetherby, with Moore feeling he deserves the chance to continue the association.

He said: “He has won two nice races on him so you could hardly take him off.”

There are no secrets surrounding the enigmatic Goshen, who was a winner at this track last term and also finished second when this race took place at Kempton last Boxing Day, but has struggled in both outings over hurdles this term.

Last seen in the rearranged Fighting Fifth at Sandown, Moore feels the return to three miles is just what the seven-year-old now requires and said: “I think that now suits him better, but I don’t know if the ground is going to be soft enough for him.

“It was an afterthought (to go to Sandown) and I probably shouldn’t have run there. He’s danced every dance.”

A field of 10 will head to post with Paisley Park going for win number four in the Grade One.

Dan Skelton’s West Balboa will try to extend her three-race winning-run after an impressive display at Aintree last month, while Fergal O’Brien has always thought plenty of Crambo who suffered an interrupted passage when third at Haydock.

Blueking D’Oroux is on a rapid upward curve and unbeaten in two outings this term. He is one of two for champion trainer Paul Nicholls alongside West Yorkshire hurdle runner-up Red Risk, with the in-form Gavin Sheehan aboard Nigel Twiston-Davies’ Gowel Road.

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