James Bowen is honoured to ride Shishkin, who he has described as "by far the best horse" he has been associated with, in the rearranged Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Sandown on Saturday.
The 22-year-old jockey will come in for the ride on the Nicky Henderson-trained Sholokhov gelding with his regular partner Nico de Boinville set to be on board his stablemate, and reigning Unibet Champion Hurdle hero, Constitution Hill, in the Grade One test which has attracted a final field of six runners.
An outing in the two-mile prize, which was re-routed from the Newcastle meeting which was lost to the weather last Saturday, only came on the agenda for Shishkin after he refused to race on his intended seasonal return in the Grade Two Nirvana Spa 1965 Chase at Ascot last month.
Bowen said: “I’m really excited to be riding Shishkin and it is an honour to ride him. I didn’t know I was definitely on him until the declarations today as there was a chance I could have gone to Aintree, but it has ended up working out well for me.
“I’ve ridden a few nice horses, but he would be by far the best horse that I’ve ever ridden in a race. It is great they have rescheduled the race, and it is great to be part of it.
“I’m not saying he is going to go and win, but hopefully he can run a good race to get his season up and running after what happened at Ascot.”
𝙎𝙞𝙭 declared for the rearranged Fighting Fifth Hurdle at @Sandownpark on Saturday, including 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 Constitution Hill and Shishkin! pic.twitter.com/OQXHH208GY
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) December 7, 2023
In order to prepare Shishkin for his first start over hurdles since winning the 2020 Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the Welsh rider partnered the six-time Grade One winner in a schooling session over the smaller obstacles at Henderson’s Seven Barrows base on Thursday.
And despite it being more than three years since the Joe and Marie Donnelly-owned gelding has tackled a hurdle in public Bowen claims he passed his test at home with flying colours.
He added: “I schooled him back over hurdles this morning and he was good. We jumped 10 in total as we jumped two lots of five twice and he was class over them. It was very much a surprise to us all what he did at Ascot and I’m not really sure why it happened.
“He has been good at home since then and hopefully he will be fine on Saturday."
While Shishkin is normally the headline act on this occasion much of the attention will be focused on his stablemate Constitution Hill. However, Bowen believes that with conditions set to be testing it can see Shishkin make the most of his assured stamina and make his presence felt.
Bowen added: “It takes a bit of the pressure off him with Constitution Hill being in there. It has been a while since he has run over two miles over hurdles but on that ground it will be a real stamina test and we know he has got plenty of stamina.
“You Wear It Well and Not So Sleepy are going to go a good gallop so that adds to it being a test of stamina which will suit Shishkin. This is a lot different to what he has been running in of late, but hopefully he can still give a good account of himself.
“This was not Plan A or Plan B. It is a case of it being Plan C, but it is a good stepping stone for him and his targets later on in the season."
Betfair spokesperson Barry Orr said: "The Fighting Fifth is a fascinating race with both Constitution Hill now 1/5 and 16/1 Shishkin both declared. Hopefully, they both make it come Saturday. If they do, then the 7/1 that some Exchange ante-post punters got about Constitution Hill and 31/1 about Shishkin looks inspired risk taking.
"This weekend on the Betfair Sportsbook there is a completely free bet on horse racing multiples, and I’d imagine plenty of punters will be adding Jonbon and Constitution Hill, at around 4/9, into their multiple bets."
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