Nicky Henderson with his final thoughts ahead of Cheltenham
Unibet ambassador Nicky Henderson gives his final assessment on his Cheltenham team ahead of next week’s Festival.
Angels Breath
I think everything has gone well, I know he got beaten at Kempton, but that actually didn’t worry me. I thought more of him the next morning than I did the morning before. I was very pleased with it and his work has been great since, so it’s all systems go.
Mister Fisher
He was good at Haydock and he has been very good. He has been working very well and I never really needed another run with him. He had already got the experience and he is in good shape.
Beware The Bear
He is very good. I have to say he got into a great rhythm at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day. He does like to dictate and that made it easier that day, as there wasn’t a big field. That’s actually why we didn’t even put him in the Grand National, because I don’t think it is a race that would suit him - although all he does on a racecourse is say, “I jump and I gallop and I do it quite well,” you’d think he was a National horse. I think the place would un-do him. The trouble with the Ultima is that there are going to be a lot of runners, but if he can find himself a pocket where he can travel through the race he is in good shape.
O O Seven
I am very pleased with him. We are actualy going to put some blinkers on him for the race and I do think they are going to help him - cheekpieces did - and he is in good form. He schooled very well in them (blinkers) the other day.
Buveur D’air
Unfortunately he got beaten at Kempton on Boxing Day by our own horse, Verdana Blue, who will run again. It will be good to soft, but if it gets much softer then Verdana Blue may well not run. Buveur D’air will love it if it gets any softer but at least we know it will not get quick, which would not suit. He followed up very nicely at Sandown and the second horse came out and won the National Spirit hurdle the other day. Barry rode him on Saturday and was delighted with him. He feels the horse is in the right shape at the right time.
It’s a better race this year. There is no doubt the two main dangers are the Irish fillies Laurina and Apple’s Jade. I think Brain Power wouldn’t be far away from the best of the rest in England. Seven pounds is plenty to give away, they will be tough to beat.
Apple Shakira
She’s had nothing seriously wrong and finding races for her has been difficult. She’s good, but she is lazy and at home she doesn’t show you a lot, but apparently Apple’s Jade doesn’t either so let’s hope she has got her sisiter’s genes all the way down the line.
Lough Derg Spirit
You know you have got to be between 140-145 (to get into the Close Brothers). Unfortunately one just got too high and that’s the penalty you pay. You have got to try and win to get in and then if you win too well you go out the top again. He is in good shape. You have just got to get them off the right weight. It will be a five pound weight range so it is not who is well handicpaed it is just who can get in.
I wouldn’t say he is far away (from Rather Be, second in the race last year). He would like some decent ground and I think he is in good form.
Ok Corral
You’re not confident if it was four miles on the flat, let alone over fences. His jumping has been good, he was very good at Warwick. He just gave you the fear at Warwick that he doesn’t scream four miles at you. He did earlier on in life, he looked all over a four miler, but he looks so sharp and well at the moment you say “does he need it?”. He will get it, but you could easily bring him into the RSA. Derek O’Connor rode him at Warwick and he put on an excellent show, so we are looking forward to it.
Champ
Is Champ a Champ? I don’t know, we will only find out on Wednesday. He has done nothing wrong. We actually started his season in May last year and he got some good experience, had a break and then came back. He was very impressive at Newbury the first time and then came out and won the Challow there, which was a Grade One, and I was going to give him another run but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of need for it. He is fit and well. We are going to the Ballymore with Champ. He has got bags of toe, he is not slow.
Santini
Santini has done nothing wrong in his two races. He got beaten at Kempton, but I think the second and third would be the two you take out the race. He won well at Newbury the first time and it has always been the objective. I would have loved to have run him in the Reynoldstown Novices' Chase but he got caught up in the flu vacinations so he had to miss it, which was very frustrating. That would concern me a bit, but hopefully we have made up for it in other ways and he is ready to go.
On The Blind Side
He took a bit of time to warm up the first time out at Cheltenham and even a little bit again at Kempton, but the further he went the further he got into a rhythm and he rolled away. He went to Newbury the other day and jumped some fences. Again, he was a bit cold to start with - you would like to have a choke button - but he was very good in the end. I would have loved the extra run. We have had to do it a different way, like we have with Santini, but he is good. We might just pop some cheepieces on, to help him in the early part of the race. He is not a second string, he has got a good chance. He is very capable.
Altior
You have to say he has probably got the best chance of anybody, but he has still got to do it. He has been very good every time so far. We think he is in very good shape and Nico says he feels great. He has schooled, he has worked, he has done everything. We have had a slightly different strategy this year - we have had three runs and then given him a bit of a break after the Clarence House. We never intended to run him again, so he hasn’t really been messed up. It has all gone well - we just have to pray for everything to go well for another week.
Vyta Du Roc
We took him there yesterday (to see Cross Country fences at Cheltenham). It was entertaining, he was good. He's in the Kim Muir, but we thought we would have a look at this. Daryl rode him yesterday and he enjoyed it. There is a lot of novelty about this race and I think that is the sort of thing this horse would enjoy. We will have a go!
Terrefort
He did everything last year; he was good at two and a half miles, he was good at three miles, he was second at Cheltenham, he won a Grade One at Sandown, so he is versatile. Clan Des Obeaux beat him fair and square at Ascot and to me that was Clan Des Obeaux’s best performance. I thought we had a chance of beating him that day, but we got brushed aside. Two and a half miles is a good trip for him and I think the Ryanair is the right race - Daryl is quite keen on his chances.
Top Notch
We have got a strong team of horses and it is just a case of deploying your team in the right places. We went back to the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot, which was Top Notch’s preparatory race for the season, as he had been held up early on with a reaction to his EHV vaccination. He seems in good shape now and I am the first to admit that he is not quite a Grade One horse over fences. He would be third or fourth in the Ryanair because you know he will run his race and try his socks off. I do think when he is jumping fences he has got to put a lot of energy into jumping and you use up a lot of energy when you have to try as hard as he does.
Janika
I think it is the right place to come back to (following his second at Cheltenham on trials day). All we have done is shove him up the weights the whole way through. You could say we haven’t played a very clever game if this is what we were after, but we have been trying to win races. He has only had two runs and he has finished a good second both times, so you would be hopeful. These handicaps are very difficult to win, but I think it is the right place to be.
River Wylde
On Betfair Chase day - when it was well documented that they built some rather hairy brick walls - he was winning the intermediate chase nicely and had a horrible fall at the last. He was pretty wounded, and he has done very, very well to get back to where we are. He had a racecourse gallop and his work is good. The fall certainly hasn’t affected him schooling, he has been very sharp. He is not a horse I would be mad about in a big field, I think Nico and I are both concerned about that because he hasn’t got a lot of experience. If everything went right I think he has got a great chance, but the race has got to go good for him.
Epatante
I say nap, but I am nervous enough about some of our own! I think she is a good mare. Epatante, she has done everything right. We have purposefully kept her out of the limelight, out of the smarter races, purely to avoid getting a penalty. This is a Grade two, so the winners of decent races do have to give away weight.
Lust For Glory
She has won two. She was beaten one day on very heavy ground by Posh Trish, but I think that was only the ground. I would fancy us beating her on good ground. I like her a lot, she will be lovely over fences next year.
Elusive Belle
She was fantastically impressive the first time and then was just far too keen at Sandown the second time, but hopefully we have ironed that out.
Daphne De Clos
I think she is getting there. I thought she was a very good filly a couple of years ago, she might just want two and a half miles. She will run because at least if she doesn’t win, it will leave her a maiden for the whole of next season and she will be even better.
Ajdali
I would have a pound on him at that (16/1)! No, I wouldn’t because I think Sir Eric is one of the bankers of the meeting and therefore it is a place bet if you like. I think he is a good price if you go back to the finale at Chepstow, where there was nothing between him and Quel Destin. We were second, but I would certainly be happy taking him on again. He then didn’t run so well at Cheltenham, but since then I have been very, very happy with him. He went to Kempton and worked very well, his work since then has been good. He is sharp, he is well. There is no doubt he deserves to have a go.
Pentland Hills
He has had a slightly different preparation in that he has only had one hurdle race in his life, but he was incredibly professional. He has done plenty of flat racing. He wasn’t very highly rated on the flat - I think he is rated something like 40 pounds below Sir Eric on flat form, so that gives us quite a lot to find. He loved his first race over hurdles, he jumped like an old hand and travelled like a good horse. He won very easily and the second wasn’t a mug. He probably hasn’t done enough to say he has got a chance in this, but he belongs to a big syndicate and it’s a great opportunity for them to go and have a runner. I saw him work this morning and he is in good form. He is almost certainly going to run anyway.
We Have A Dream
That’s the plan now (the County Hurdle). We were going to go Champion Hurdle but then you have to say that he is not going to win that. Second season four-year olds, they always have a difficult time. He is going to have a lot of weight in the County. He won that Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso the other day - a race that we have used a lot to try and help some of these horses get their confidence back - and I have reason to hope. Daryl was saying this morning that’s the best he has been and so I hope he is right.
Birchdale
You will never be confident, and you will never be sure your right (to run in the Albert Bartlett). I certainly could have gone to the Ballymore, but Champ is JP’s as well so there is little point. We do also have Dickie Diver in there and Downtown Getaway. Dickie Diver is JP’s as well as Birchdale. It is very possible that those two will take each other on, but if Champ is going to be the one in the Ballymore, we can afford to move Birchdale up. He is not a slow horse and I am not sure it is right, but it is the way we are going to go.
Dickie Diver
He will love the three miles, as long as there is cut in the ground.
Downtown Getaway
He won at Ascot the last time. He didn’t jump as well as I thought he should have, but he has schooled this morning and he is in good form. He won’t be far behind them - he might be far in front of them as well!
Might Bite
We don’t know if we have got him back to his best but we are hopeful that we are near it. Kempton was disappointing - he never got into his rhythm and his flow. We have done a few things - nothing drastic; we have tinkered with cauterizing his pallet, we have medicated for some ulcers, little bits and pieces. We have got him in good shape. He went to Newbury on Sunday morning - he jumped ten fences he looked in good form. He needs to bowl and Nico wants to let him bowl. Maybe three and a quarter miles is too much, maybe he wants a shorter trip. We are going to go down this route, although we did even think he ought to drop into the Ryanair. He is giving us the right signs that he is enjoying himself again and, if that’s the case, he has got a very good chance. It’s an open race, you have got your old mates in there your Thistlecracks and Native River. You have got the Irish coming in their numbers - Presenting Percy and all of them. I think it is a very open Gold Cup. He’s entitled to be there and he is entitled to be in the shake-up.
Undoubtedly the better ground will suit, he loves really good ground. To be fair they had a really nice strip of unused ground for the Gold Cup last year. He was on ground that hadn’t been used for a year, so I can’t really blame the ground entirely for what happened, except the ground after the last fence was horrible. You jump the last and then go into a quagmire. He landed upsides and then all of a sudden he is two lengths down and I think that was purely because he was striding along and then his feet were leaden because he couldn’t get out of it. We are hoping it will be better ground. At least we come in this time with less pressure.
Theinval
Has been placed in it before (the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual). He probably prefers a little bit extra, but he loves the place and is a standing dish there.
Whatswrongwithyou
Quite aptly named, he has had one or two issues in life. The last week before qualifications, if you like, he had to have his third run and he had to go up the weights. I got the right race because we won at Fontwell and it was a good performance. I wanted to go up five pounds to get in, he did it too well and went up ten pounds. I think the handicapper knew exactly what I was trying to do and gave him an almighty thump. Having said that, he is in. He loves soft ground so if it wants to get wet that day, at least I have something that will like the ground. Theinval will hate it if it gets soft, but there you go. I have got one for all weathers.
Pym
He might well run in the Martin Pipe. We haven’t quite made our mind up, as we have got a stack of them in there. Style De Garde will probably run in it, Pym might run in it.
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