Nicky Henderson Stable Tour

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

Big guns coming out now

Long Run
Finian's Rainbow
Oscar Whisky

all out this Saturday.

£302k behind Nicholls after the weekend.

[Moscow]

Any news on Punjabi ?

Entered at Lingfield Park next Tuesday. So overturn isn't the highest rated hurdler going chasing

[JohnC]

Nicky Henderson describes Minella Forfitness as "an exciting prospect" and says he has "grown up" since last season, when he was too keen in the Grade 2 bumper at Aintree. He's going to be a pretty short price but there seems no shortage of confidence.

[Navanman]

Nicky Henderson was in sparkling form at Ascot on Friday, firing in a treble including a Royal winner in Close Touch for the Queen.

Her Majesty, who only has a small handful of National Hunt horses in training, has been successful at this track in the past with the likes of Barbers Shop, Gold Award and First Love, and there is every chance the runner in her scarlet and purple silks will soar to greater heights.

The 4-7 favourite had been taken as far afield as Market Rasen and Fakenham for his previous two victories, in a bumper and a hurdle, but he and the rest of the field spotted Loyaute a lead of almost 30 lengths which lasted until the second-last flight.

Close Touch took over and eventually mastered Fair Trade by two and a half lengths under Barry Geraghty, with Lordofthehouse paying the penalty for another of his now customary slow starts back in fourth.

"These introductory races are great for a horse like this, you just have a 5lb penalty for winning and it's a nice place for the Queen to have a winner," said Henderson, who took the race last year with promising chaser Broadbackbob.

"He didn't mind the ground, he has quite a round action, and we've always thought he was nice. We'll tip-toe, I'd think. They learn a lot at a place like Fakenham, and he's going to be a chaser in time."

Minella Class (7-4 favourite) ensured Henderson and Geraghty took the David & Toni Eyles Beginners' Chase for the third year running while Petit Robin (15-8 favourite) repelled stablemate First In The Queue to complete the treble in the finale.

[Navanman]

Catching Pigeons pretty negative on tomorrow's runners

Earlier on the programme, Nicky Henderson had been hoping that by running Finian's Rainbow over two miles and three furlongs in the Amlin Chase he might get a clearer idea as to which direction he could take with the horse later in the season.

However the worsening going conditions mean that it might just be a case of getting through this race rather than worrying too much about victory. Without taking on Sprinter Sacre at Sandown in a fortnight's time, there aren't too many options for a horse like him if he is to be fully tuned for a Christmas target such as the King George VI Chase.

Confidence has also waned at the yard ahead of Oscar Whisky's run in the Coral Hurdle.

He has been working particularly well and had been thought ready to go in first time, but soft ground wouldn't necessarily be right up his alley, whereas streetfighter Raya Star might be less disadvantaged.

Less high profile is stablemate Shernando, due to have his first start since undergoing a breathing operation in the summer in the opener. Early evidence suggests that he is ready to roll again as a result of that bit of surgery and he could be one to catch first time out.

[Hoof]

^ Hard to wade through all these threads but that was spot on Navanman. Wont be backing OW now.

[Hoof]

Got that wrong

[mayo]

Hurdler plans ...

"Darlan is going to the Fighting Fifth, Grandouet will go to the International at Cheltenham and Binocular will be looking to the Christmas Hurdle and if we run two in the Christmas Hurdle so be it," Henderson said on Sunday.

"Oscar Whisky at the moment would stick to two and a half because he is so good at that distance. There's not many horses going to beat him at that.

"There are a couple of options at Cheltenham, then the Welsh Champion Hurdle, then Aintree, they are all on the agenda. Dai Walters [owner] and I talked about it all summer and decided we'd might just skip Cheltenham but the only thing is if it did come up soft at Cheltenham you'd have to think about it and go two miles.

"When you see him skipping round like that you wonder how he can't stay three miles. He finished very distressed at the end of Cheltenham (after the World Hurdle over three miles in March) so it goes through the mind was it as simple as not staying? You can't believe he doesn't when you see what he did yesterday. He annihilated them.

"We don't have to make a decision now but if it was very soft you'd have to seriously think about going two miles. He'd have beaten them at two yesterday."

[Yeehaa]

Anyword on Tetlami, Tistory or Simonsig...

[mayo]

Anyword on Tetlami, Tistory or Simonsig...

No entries for any of them ... Simonsig had some minor setback ?

[mayo]

Found it ...

Henderson said: “Simonsig is a little bit behind. He had a splint which annoyed him for a couple of days. He definitely won’t be in action next weekend but may go to Newbury.”

[Hoof]

Simonsig still going chasing according to this had been drifting ( a bit) for Arkle on betfair

Will Hayler swoons over Sprinter Sacre after a trip to Nicky Henderson's Seven Barrows yard in Lambourn.

I've never had a poster of a racehorse on my wall, but if I did it would be Sprinter Sacre. If Nicky Henderson seemed a little prickly at first, the result of bossy photographers and freezing temperatures, a cuddle with Sprinter Sacre certainly seemed to perk him up.

If he was mine, I doubt he'd ever race again. I'd just go and stand at the entrance to his box and sigh.

He has the biggest, blackest front feet that I have ever seen on a horse and a handsome face that was made for posing. Long Run won't stand still when the photographers want him to. Sprinter Sacre, on the other hand, coyly turns his head and pricks his ears as if to say 'Would you like me from this angle?'.

These kind of promotional press trips get short shrift from some members of the media, but I could never tire of looking at Henderson's brilliant beasts.

The photographers ask him to pose with his possible Christmas Hurdle runners and Grandouet, Binocular and Darlan appear for a group shot. "Will Darlan run in the Christmas Hurdle?" asks one of them. "I don't even know if he will run this week," snaps back Henderson, the first of many times his exasperation with the weather becomes evident.

And so to the news. Bobs Worth will probably run in the Hennessy although he has been given an entry in Leopardstown's Lexus Chase over Christmas as a fall-back option.

Darlan probably won't run at Newcastle and probably wouldn't run even if the Fighting Fifth was moved to Newbury. He could run at Cheltenham a fortnight on Saturday against Grandouet, who is fine, but wouldn't run in the Christmas Hurdle against Binocular. If he doesn't run at Cheltenham, or Newcastle, or Newbury, he could run at Leopardstown over Christmas. Or not.

Riverside Theatre is on course to make his reappearance in the King George along with Long Run, who has come out fresh and well from Haydock, and Finian's Rainbow, who has given little clue as to what exactly went wrong when last of four at Ascot on Saturday.

The others? Simonsig worked well this morning and will be ready to run over fences in a fortnight's time. Sprinter Sacre, other than being generally magnificent, will run in the Tingle Creek Chases even if the ground is testing. Roberto Goldback is more likely to run over two and a half miles at Newbury on Friday than wait for the Hennessy 24 hours later.

The names of very good horses drip from his tongue, but the truth is that it hasn't been a tremendous start to the season for Henderson, trainers' title rival Paul Nicholls having already stolen a not-inconsiderable march in the standings.

"For whatever reason, our horses by and large don't seem to act on soft ground and as a result there is a lot of juggling to be done," reflects Henderson, in between chasing his Labrador dog away from a large plate of sausage sandwiches, an episode which makes me think about the dog who used to say 'sssausages' on That's Life.

"The least likely to go [to Kempton] for the Christmas Hurdle is Grandouet because the race comes too soon after Cheltenham and although anything is possible I don't think anything would stop me from running him at Cheltenham even if the going is soft," he says. As he talks, it's hard not to feel that to some extent, he is still getting it all sorted out in his own mind.

"Darlan could go for the Christmas Hurdle, but I can't see that JP would want two in that, so I've put him at Leopardstown as they sometimes get decent ground there.

"Binocular is the one we had in mind for Kempton and if all's going well he'll have a racecourse gallop and go there.

"There's Cash And Go to think about too but he'll probably go for the Ladbroke [at Ascot] while he still has half a chance in handicaps."

After a slightly hesitant start, Henderson is by now in full stride and apart from the weather it's all good news. Long Run has come out of his reappearance "fresher" than when second to Kauto Star at Haydock 12 months ago. Riverside Theatre, oblivious to the weather-related woes of his stablemates, gets a particularly positive bulletin as he is summoned to pose with his trainer for yet more photographs.

"Are you there, Riverside?" he shouts, but the horse doesn't answer. Not that good a trainer then. The original plan had been for Riverside Theatre to canter to Newbury on Sunday morning, but with the likely state of the ground being 'bog to frozen' that idea is likely to be shelved in favour of a spin around Kempton's Polytrack.

Finian's Rainbow remains a likely starter in the William Hill King George VI Chase too, despite his flop behind Captain Chris.

"It was always the plan and our first reaction is 'Yes, that is still what I would rather do rather than anything else'," says Henderson. "If you wait for something else on better ground, how long would you be waiting? When you have these kind of short days, it's not going to start drying up suddenly. We're stuck with it."

Ah yes, the weather. And the resulting soft ground. It had been at least 90 seconds since we last mentioned it. Poor Nicky. He was off to Newbury to walk the course. "I don't really know why, I can imagine what I am going to find."

Let's talk about something more positive. Sprinter Sacre takes on Sanctuaire in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown on Saturday week. What a race that should be. Henderson lights up at the topic.

"We spent most of last season bemoaning the fact that we'd struggle to find something to give him a lead, then finally when a horse comes along, it's one like Sanctuaire who should not only give him a lead but prove hard enough to pass," he beams.

"It could be one of those great races and although he'll be keeping to the novice division for the time being, you can see Overturn making the two-mile division even more interesting when he joins in as well. These two-mile chases are going to get exciting."

And then we go back to the weather. It's time to go. Just one more look at Sprinter Sacre?

[Sprinter]

Hokey Cokey with Bobs Worth today

Nicky Henderson has relied on the evidence of his own eyes and has appeared to confirm that Bob’s Worth is to take his place in the Hennessy Gold Cup at the Racecourse Newbury on Saturday.

The trainer walked the track in person on Tuesday afternoon after issuing a caveat at his media morning that last season’s RSA Chase winner would not run in the Grade 3 handicap chase.

All week Newbury has avoided the heavy rains that has resulted in so many abandonments and Henderson confirmed the synopsis of Richard Osgood, the clerk of the course, that the going was only soft, heavy in places.

"It's soft ground with some heavy patches but taking it with the balance of the last two weekends at Cheltenham and Ascot I'd say it's not as tough as those. It's quite difficult to read. Some patches will ride very soft and others won't be too bad,” Henderson said, having spoken to the Not Afraid syndicate that owns the seven-year-old.

"I have spoken to Malcolm Kimmins, who heads up the owners' syndicate and the gut feeling is we probably will run, all things being equal," he added, in an interview with the Racing Post. "I put out a warning this morning because I wanted there to be one.”

In a topsy-turvy ante-post market, Bob’s Worth was cut across the boards from a high of 9-2 on Tuesday back down to as short at 3-1 with Coral. Skybet remain a standout 4-1.

Conditions at Newbury ahead of the three-day Sportingbet Winter Festival meeting that starts on Thursday remain reasonably good considering the recent wet spell that has caused waterlogging and even flooding in some parts of the country.

Osgood left the going unchanged as soft, heavy in places at the rebranded track on Tuesday afternoon.

While drier weather is forecast for the rest of the week, he is turning his attention to protecting the course from the possibility of overnight frosts.

"We're still the same - soft, heavy in places. We've just had some odd light showers today but it's starting to dry. We've had a nice wind," Osgood said.

"We've covered all take-offs and landings for the weekend plus a little bit down the back straight where it doesn't see the sun that much.

"The forecast looks like we're going to get a frost so that's why I've done that.

"Apart from that, it's all coming good. We've had various people walk the course today and they are all quite happy with how it is."

[johnno]

Celtus put up as one to follow by Ian Ogg

The one horse in the line-up who didn't win last time out was Celtus and he was beaten over 14 lengths.

At first glance there's nothing too promising about this effort or, indeed, the profile of Nicky Henderson's charge who has proved hugely disappointing since arriving from France.

However, this rates a significant improvement from his reappearance at Ffos Las and there was enough in this run to suggest that it's too early to give up on him just yet.

He looks dangerously well handicapped if connections have found the key to him and his progress is worth monitoring for the remainder of the season.

[Super Bobs]

BARRY’S DE-BRIEF

SPIRIT RIVER ran a good race in the three-mile beginners’ chase at Kempton on Monday but just got a bit tired having looked the winner. He jumped brilliantly and I’m very happy with him.

KELLS BELLE made a bad mistake at the second-last in the listed mares’ hurdle and lost her action so I pulled her up. The ground was a bit too soft for her; she needs it better, good to soft at worst.

HADRIAN'S APPROACH was still travelling well when we came down four out in the novice chase at Newbury on Thursday and he was probably unfortunate to fall as one came in from the outside and partially blinded him. He’d jumped well up to then and you’d have to say he’d have been involved.

LYVIUS r showed that he’s grown into himself with a very good performance winning the Gerry Fielden which is usually a decent guide to the future. Travelled great, jumped brilliantly and was the winner everywhere. He’s much more of a horse this season.

It was too frosty to school on Friday but I worked quite a nice horse that Nicky bought from Sam Curling in Ireland, COCKTAILS AT DAWN. He was highly touted as a four-year-old pointer and the feel he gave me on Saturday morning backed up that opinion.

GLORIOUS TWELFTH just needed the race in the two mile five mares’ novice hurdle on Friday. She’d been held up for a week and gave a blow turning out of the back straight and I couldn’t pick up with them turning for home but she finished very strongly.

MA FILLEULE was a little unfortunate not to win the listed mares’ novice hurdle on Saturday because the leader went pretty quick and mine raced after her. If we’d gone a bit slower then I think she’d have won. She's a filly I’m mad about, size and scope that will be better in time.