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Nicky Henderson Stable Tour

Essential Reading www.attheraces.com/barry

CASH OUT FOR BETFAIR GLORY

It is eight years since I won the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury for the only time aboard Essex and it was the year before that Nicky Henderson won it last.

We’re teaming up again at Newbury when I’m on one of Nicky’s six runners, CASH AND GO (3.35) and I’m expecting a top-class performance from a horse that’s still on the upgrade.

Having said that, the same applies to one of Nicky’s other runners who’s at the top of the betting, My Tent Or Yours.

I’ve ridden both, plus his other four runners and they’ve all got claims at varying degrees but those first two seem the pick to me.

It’s possible that Cash And Go could still be ahead of the handicapper and that’s where you need to be in a race like this.

He impressed me on his first start for Nicky at Cheltenham in November when he was second to Olofi with Cause Of Causes in third and although my lad was put up 3lb, Cause Of Causes has given the form a lift and has won twice since. He now meets us on 9lb worse terms.

But it’s quite possible, but for bad luck, that Cash And Go would have been higher because we didn’t get any further than the fourth in the Ladbroke at Ascot before Christmas when he made a mistake and unseated me.

He had a favourites chance that day and I’ve no reason not to think that he wouldn’t have been a serious player with a clear round and would now be a few pounds higher than 145.

And don’t be concerned that he hasn’t run since December. He was working really well going into Ascot and he’s been flying in his recent work.

I haven’t been on him but I’ve had a good view and liked what I’ve seen.

I’ve always held My Tent Or Yours in very high regard having ridden him in his bumper season and I’ve been massively impressed with his first season over hurdles.

I know there have been some who reckon the handicapper was a bit harsh upping him to 149 after he bolted up in a novice event at Huntingdon last month but time might show that was thoroughly justified.

He has a big future ahead of him.

Of Nicky’s other four runners I’ve got plenty of time of Punjabi who I partnered when landing the 2009 Champion Hurdle and although he’d been off for a very long time when he came back at Kempton on Boxing Day he gave me the feel that there was still plenty of spark about him.

Considering he was once rated 166, his new mark of 145 looks attractive.

Petit Robin is in a good place over hurdles as he showed when he was second to Cause Of Causes in the Ladbroke but despite Nico De Boinville claiming, he’s got a big task off top weight.

The two other Seven Barrows runners, Lyvius and First In The Queue were a bit below-par last time so really need to up their game to feature here.

I’d have plenty of respect for David Pipe’s runners, particularly Swing Bowler and Ronaldo Des Mottes and it’s possible that Cotton Mill could be on a decent mark for a second-season novice as he was upsides Simonsig when he ran through the wing of the second last in the Neptune at Cheltenham and might well have been placed.

SIMONSIG A NOTABLE ABSENTEE BUT I'VE SIX MORE ON SUPER SATURDAY

There are six other races that make up a really good card at Newbury and should give some solid clues for Cheltenham but unfortunately the one I was really looking forward to won’t be happening.

Due to a below-par scope, Simonsig misses the Betfair Super Saturday Chase which we won with Sprinter Sacre last year.

But as I’ve said before, it’s better to find these things out before a race rather than after.

FRENCH OPERA (3.00) comes in to represent Seven Barrows and although he’s hardly going to improve at ten, he was second to Sprinter a year ago and there’s nothing of his calibre in this time.

He’d be a chance of making the frame, especially if the ground’s not too soft.

I left it to Nicky as to who I should I should ride in the three-mile handicap hurdle and although I schooled Spirit River on Friday morning and he did ok he’s put me on MINELLA CLASS (1.50) and that’s good enough for me. Both are coming back having struggled in novice chases and they need a big performance to be in the shake-up of a competitive race like this. We live in hope.

I start with a very good chance for Nicky who sends CHATTERBOX (1.15) for the two-mile novices’ hurdle.

He took a serious scalp last time at Newbury when he beat My Tent Or Yours. We got the run of the race that day but I was very impressed with my lad because we were a bit concerned that the ground would be against him.

As it was, he coped with it really well and it’s going to be better this time. I understand there’s plenty of confidence behind Paul Nicholls four-year-old Lac Fontana who gets 16lb from us but I’ve got a lot of faith in Chatterbox - he picked up really well last time and he’s certainly gone the right way since.

MASTER OF THE HALL (2.25) is always better in a small field and there are only seven against him in the Denman Chase. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they’re all pretty smart so he needs to show a lot more than he’s done in two runs so far this season to make his presence felt.

I’m expecting a very forward performance from HADRIAN’S APPROACH (4.10) in the three-mile novices’ chase.

He schooled very well on Friday morning and he strikes me as a horse that’s certainly progressing.

We were travelling well enough when we came down four out at Newbury in late November and this track should suit him better than Kempton where he was second to Dynaste on Boxing Day.

On a line through that horse there’s not a massive amount between him and Unioniste so I’m expecting a very competitive performance.
 
Greg Wood almost being kind about NJH ...it won't last

"I've not watched it since I saw it there," Nicky Henderson said here , four days after his outstanding hurdler Darlan died in a fall at Doncaster, "and I don't suppose I ever will." The memory is still raw, of a miserable afternoon for the Henderson yard in what could well be a championship-winning season, but card at Newbury offers an immediate chance to regroup and move on.

"We've all got to pick ourselves up," Henderson said. "Everyone's been brilliant and the support we've had from everybody has been unbelievable. I think he was a bright light coming through, but from all the amazing things that have been written and the letters and messages we've had, I think he really was a horse that everyone expected to go to the very top.

"You lose an old horse that's had a really good innings, well, if you score your 100 you're entitled to be out, but it's a bit bad luck when you haven't had a chance to get there. Poor old JP [McManus] also lost his mare Like-A-Butterfly yesterday too. I've said it before, but nobody in this world cares more about their horses than he does."

There is no place in a horsebox on Saturday for Simonsig, the Arkle Trophy favourite, who was ruled out of his intended prep race for the Festival in the Game Spirit Chase on Thursday evening when a trachea wash hinted at a minor bug. But Henderson still has runners throughout the best card in Britain this side of next month's Cheltenham Festival, most of all in the Betfair Hurdle, one of the most valuable and competitive handicaps of the season, in which he will saddle six of the 23 starters.

"They've all got their own realistic chances," said Henderson. "First In The Queue is a little horse who needs to run in a handicap with a little weight, and one day his number will come up. Punjabi has won the Champion Hurdle and he ran a good race in the Christmas Hurdle, Petit Robin has been running well all year but he's got top weight. Then you come down to My Tent Or Yours and Cash And Go, and they are probably the two realistic ones."

My Tent Or Yours, owned by McManus, seems certain to start a well-backed favourite at around 7-2.

Simonsig may now go straight to the Festival without another run, which would not concern his trainer, while Grandouet, one of the favourites for the Champion Hurdle, may miss the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso next week if the ground is heavy.

"Simonsig cantered this morning, but he just needs a quiet week," Henderson said. "We'll see, we might easily not run him [before Cheltenham]. He needs a quiet week and he'll be perfectly all right. The ideal race for him would be the Pendil [Novice Chase] back here [in late February], and I wouldn't mind going over two and a half, but his owner is away and he said: 'If you don't need to run him, I'd rather you didn't.'

"Grandouet wouldn't run at Kelso if it's heavy, in which case we'll switch to [the Kingwell Hurdle at] Wincanton [three days later]."

The Newbury card is Henderson's most obvious chance to close the gap on Paul Nicholls in the trainers' championship before the sport's showpiece meeting. Henderson is still about £120,000 behind Nicholls, but a one-two in the Betfair Hurdle would all but eliminate his deficit. Nicholls, though, has several significant runners himself on Saturday, including Silviniaco Conti in the Denman Chase, two contenders in the Betfair Hurdle in Dark Lover and Pearl Swan, while Fago, the third-favourite for the Arkle, runs in a valuable event at Warwick.

Henderson saddled a 13-2 winner on the card here when Ericht took the novice hurdle and completed a double when Prince Of Pirates landed the handicap chase, while there was a surprise result in the kempton.co.uk Graduation Chase, which was won by the mare Alasi, the outsider of the three runners.
 
Bazza's Blog

As for my ride in the race, CASH AND GO ATR Tracker, well, he just didn’t sparkle. I can’t say he didn’t cope with the ground because he handled it ok at Cheltenham. He’s certainly better than that.

Apart from that, it was a pretty good week for me because I won on some potentially smart horses and got beaten on a couple that are very much going the right way.

UTOPIE DES BORDES ATR Tracker is very nice. She was classy over fences in France but won the two-mile novice at Doncaster on Monday very well. She would be better for a bit further but as regards ground she’d be pretty versatile. She’s got a few entries coming up this week and might end up going to Sandown which could suit her.

MINELLA FORFITNESS ATR Tracker really pleased me in the two and a half mile maiden hurdle which rode a pretty good race. He was a little bit keen but that was exaggerated by the slow pace and there was also a desperate headwind which lit him up a bit. This is a horse that’s definitely going the right way.

CLOSE TOUCH ATR Tracker came up against a good horse in the two and a half mile novices’ hurdle at Doncaster on Thursday and time might show that it wasn’t a bad effort to be beaten four lengths by African Gold. There will be good days for my horse and he will appreciate a fence. He’s a big horse that’s going to be better in time.

ERICHT ATR Tracker really appreciated the better ground at Kempton on Friday - that’s the key to him. He got stuck in the mud at Newbury, hated it. In fact, Kempton was as soft as he’d have wanted it. He appreciated the move up to two miles five in the novice hurdle, too.

STATE BENEFIT ATR Tracker jumped well in the three-mile handicap chase but probably did a little too much. I’m sure there’s a day or two for him.

TRADEWINDS ATR Tracker was a horse I’d never sat on before so I didn’t know what to expect in the bumper but I was very pleased with what I did get. He picked up really well in the home straight because he had been keen in the past but settled well. It’s possible that’s where the improvement came from.

CHATTERBOX ATR Tracker has a lot of pace for a horse that doesn’t show much at home and I couldn’t fault his second win in the two-mile novices’ hurdle at Newbury on Saturday. He seems to have loads of gears and I’m pretty sure he’ll appreciate better ground.

FRENCH OPERA ATR Tracker found the ground a little too soft in the Game Spirit Chase over two but still ran a cracker and was unlucky to get done on the run-in. He’s a lovely, genuine horse.

HADRIAN’S APPROACH ATR Tracker was very unlucky in the three-mile novices’ chase because the mistake two out certainly cost him the race. He showed a great attitude to come back on the run-in to challenge in the dying strides but I wouldn’t say that the bump near the line cost him. He’s still a bit immature but he’s an improver – and the galloping track helped him.
 
Gallops Report

Nicky Henderson is set to field a reduced team at Saturday's Ascot and Wincanton fixtures owing to the heavy ground that would be against the majority of his entries.

However, Ascot specialist FINIAN'S RAINBOW will run in the Betfair Ascot Chase.

Last season's Champion Chase hero enjoyed some other memorable moments at the Berkshire track last season but was found to be wrong after flopping in testing conditions there in November.

Henderson elected to give the King George VI Chase - and a first try at three miles - a miss with the Michael Buckley-owned gelding, who has been given plenty of time to recover.

He looked in good order blowing out ahead of Saturday's Grade One feature and connections are hopeful of taking him back to the Festival.

BINOCULAR continues to please in his preparation for the Champion Hurdle, but is unlikely to run in the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton on Saturday due to the heavy ground.

The long-absent KHYBER KIM will, however, take his chance in the race.

Second in the 2010 Champion when trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, he recently returned to Seven Barrows and has been working encouragingly.

RIVER MAIGUE looked in good order in his stretch this morning and is set to tackle the two-mile novices' hurdle at Ascot on Saturday.

He was the subject of a recent run of cash for the Supreme Hurdle and that is very much the plan for him.

Henderson has yet to finalise plans for the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle at Ascot, although SENTRY DUTY looks set to miss out owing to unsuitable going.

GENERAL MILLER has been working well but would also be better on good ground and may be worth following in a spring campaign later on.

However TOP OF THE RANGE looked in good heart in his latest breeze and could take his chance.
 
Henderson on Sprinter Sacre: 'He's a natural athlete. He's as good a looking horse as you'll ever see.'


Henderson: 'Bobs Worth has work to do but we're on schedule. Oscar Whisky is better over 2m4f. I'm still campaigning for a Ryanair Hurdle'



My Tent Or Yours definitely goes for the Supreme at Cheltenham Festival, says Henderson. 'Sadness is Darlan isn't there as well.'


Nicky Henderson on Simonsig: 'He is quite fresh right now.' Yogi Breisner to come down next week for a session, possibly including Long Run.
 
Leon Blanche ‏@BoylesportsLB

114 rated flat horse got "absolutely annihilated" by Simonsig last Saturday, he wouldn't be out of place in a champion hurdle

Grandouet will not go to Kempton this Saturday will probably go for a race course gallop a week later

Binocular would jump a fence for fun if you asked him, he says he will go to Kempton on Saturday

Nicky says Oscar Whiskey does not need a race course gallop like some of his other stars
 
Henderson on Finian's Rainbow: 'Possibility he'll come back to two miles.'

Henderson on Finian's Rainbow: 'Saturday was down to the ground. He won't go Gold Cup

Ulcers discovered in Riverside Theatre since last run. Now said to be v well
 
Racegoers at Kempton on Saturday are in for a treat after Nicky Henderson revealed on Monday that Bobs Worth and Long Run are set to undergo a racecourse gallop after the Racing Plus Chase day card.

The stellar duo will be joined by Binocular, the 2010 Champion Hurdler winner, Riverside Theatre, last season’s Ryanair Chase winner, as well as Rolling Star, who is 5-1 for the Triumph Hurdle. Kid Cassidy, who is set to lead a team of six for the Jonny Henderson Grand Annual Chase Challenge Cup, will also join the squad.

Bobs Worth has not been see in competitive action since seeing off Tidal Bay in the Hennessy Gold Cup in December and despite a lack of a recent run is 3-1 for the Gold Cup.

“Barney Clifford clerk of the course) has allowed us to work some horses after racing,” Henderson stated at his Seven Barrows yard on Monday morning. “I was thinking of going on Sunday but Barney suggested I come after racing. There will be a crowd there so it will be better for the horses.

“I would have liked to have run Bobs Worth before Cheltenham but he was fresh before he won the Hennessy.

“He’s a big baby. He lacks experience going into the race, I thought he did before the RSA Chase, but he loves Cheltenham and we are on schedule with him.”

Eight of the last 11 winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup did not have a prep run in the same calendar year. Bobs Worth’s Hennessy win was only his 11th start and although Henderson is concerned by the favourite’s inexperience he believes it is an open Gold Cup.

“Bobs Worth has only won a novice chase and a Hennessy,” he added. “The Gold Cup is where we will find out where he is and what he is.

“He hasn’t reached the superstar status that Sprinter Sacre has done yet but he hasn’t had the opportunity to do so.

“It is a very open race. You wouldn’t say Silviniaco Conti was earth-shatteringly impressive at Newbury but it was a very satisfactory trial I’m sure.

“There has been nothing that has come out this season that you would say, ‘Christ, look at that,’ so Bobs Worth and Long Run have as good a chance as any.”

Like many trainers Henderson has struggled to prepare fully his Festival team due to poor weather this season and Kempton will provide for trainer and punters alike the final piece in the Cheltenham jigsaw puzzle.

Henderson unmasked Soldatino in the Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle in 2010 and the French recruit went on to land the Triumph Hurdle a month later.

On Saturday the most successful trainer in the history of the Festival will use the Grade 2 event to hand Courtesy Call his seasonal bow.

The former Flat handicapper has not run since September and is pencilled in to line-up alongside stablemate Vasco De Ronceray as Henderson puts the finishing touches to his Cheltenham squad, which is set to number around 35.

“Courtesy Call is a good horse,” the trainer continued. “I haven’t been able to run him. He isn’t very big, he had a busy Flat campaign and has to have good ground.

“He jumps well but there was no point in asking him to do anything in that ground. He’ll be left in the Triumph.

“It is the last opportunity to get runs into horses before Cheltenham. I will have a few handicappers running there, with a few who need their third run before the Sunday cut-off.

“I also have Oscar Nominee running at Taunton tomorrow before he runs in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys. Tetlami will run this week somewhere, too.

“Molotof will run in the Pendil [Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Saturday), and after what he did at Warwick he probably has moved himself into the Jewson Novices’ Chase picture and will run with Captain Conan in that race.

“You will see a different Captain Conan there. I know he wasn’t that impressive at Sandown on Saturday but he is tremendous form and I am very happy with him. He is going to start work again next week.”
 
Missing one juvenile :rolleyes:

Courtesy Call
Form:
A dramatic improver for Mark Johnston at the end of last season who was rated 86 when second at Newmarket on his final start last September, he is still to make his first start over hurdles for his new yard but the trainer has been patiently been waiting for some better ground and he is set to end the waiting at Kempton this weekend in the Adonis Hurdle.

A big run could see him thrown into the mix for the Triumph Hurdle and Henderson talks favourably as to how the four-year-old's schooling has gone so far.

Stablemate Vasco Du Ronceray is also due to line up in the Adonis and could also rebuild his reputation in time to emerge as a Triumph contender.
 
Henderson Chasers By rating

Sprinter Sacre (FR) 2006 179
Finians Rainbow (IRE) 2003 173
Long Run (FR) 2005 172
Bobs Worth (IRE) 2005 171
Riverside Theatre (GB) 2004 169
Simonsig (GB) 2006 160
French Opera (GB) 2003 154
Roberto Goldback (IRE) 2002 154
Captain Conan (FR) 2007 152
Molotof (FR) 2007 152
Tanks For That (IRE) 2003 151
Master of The Hall (IRE) 2004 148
Hadrians Approach (IRE) 2007 147
Quantitativeeasing (IRE) 2005 147
Radium (FR) 2005 147
Surfing (FR) 2006 145
Nadiya de La Vega (FR) 2006 144
Kid Cassidy (IRE) 2006 143
Broadbackbob (IRE) 2005 142
Malt Master (IRE) 2007 142
Giorgio Quercus (FR) 2005 140
Rajdhani Express (GB) 2007 140
Tetlami (IRE) 2006 140
Prince of Pirates (IRE) 2005 139
Anquetta (IRE) 2004 137
Owen Glendower (IRE) 2005 136
Mush Mir (IRE) 2007 135
Tour dArgent (FR) 2007 135
Spirit River (FR) 2005 134
Open Hearted (GB) 2007 133
Minella Class (IRE) 2005 132
Triolo dAlene (FR) 2007 132
State Benefit (IRE) 2005 129
Youre The Top (FR) 2004 129
Thanks For Coming (GB) 2006 127
Joker Choker (IRE) 2005 125
Seven Woods (IRE) 2006 123
Tom du Lys (FR) 2008 120
Kings Lodge (GB) 2006 117
 
Hurdlers by rating

Horse Year OR
Binocular (FR) 2004 167
Oscar Whisky (IRE) 2005 167
Grandouet (FR) 2007 166
My Tent Or Yours (IRE) 2007 162
Petit Robin (FR) 2003 159
Oscara Dara (IRE) 2005 153
Bears Affair (IRE) 2006 152
Khyber Kim (GB) 2002 147
Cash And Go (IRE) 2007 144
Cucumber Run (IRE) 2005 144
Lifestyle (GB) 2006 143
Une Artiste (FR) 2008 142
Utopie des Bordes (FR) 2008 142
Kells Belle (IRE) 2006 140
Punjabi (GB) 2003 140
River Maigue (IRE) 2007 140
Sentry Duty (FR) 2002 140
Spirit River (FR) 2005 139
Forgotten Voice (IRE) 2005 138
Master of The Hall (IRE) 2004 138
Vasco du Ronceray (FR) 2009 138
Megalypos (FR) 2009 137
General Miller (GB) 2005 136
Cape Express (IRE) 2005 135
Ericht (IRE) 2006 134
Ma Filleule (FR) 2008 134
Royal Boy (FR) 2007 133
Lyvius (GB) 2008 132
Minella Class (IRE) 2005 132
Whisper (FR) 2008 132
Top of The Range (IRE) 2007 131
Close Touch (GB) 2008 130
First In The Queue (IRE) 2007 130
Golden Hoof (IRE) 2008 130
Joker Choker (IRE) 2005 130
Mush Mir (IRE) 2007 130
All The Aces (IRE) 2005 127
Laudatory (GB) 2006 127
Master of The Game (IRE) 2006 126
Mister Dillon (GB) 2007 125
Shernando (GB) 2007 125
Youre The Top (FR) 2004 125
One Lucky Lady (GB) 2008 122
Woodbank (GB) 2007 122
Glorious Twelfth (IRE) 2007 120
Heronry (IRE) 2008 120
Lieutenant Miller (GB) 2006 120
Otto The Great (FR) 2008 119
Pippa Greene (GB) 2004 119
Kings Lodge (GB) 2006 117
Tom du Lys (FR) 2008 117
Definite Ruby (IRE) 2008 115
Barenger (IRE) 2007 114
Little Fritz (FR) 2007 114
Foxbridge (IRE) 2006 113
Makari (GB) 2007 113
Oasis Knight (IRE) 2006 112
Buckie Boy (IRE) 2006 110
Kings Destiny (GB) 2006 110
Polly Peachum (IRE) 2008 109
 
Nicky Henderson was left perfectly satisfied as he worked a high-profile Cheltenham team after racing at Kempton.

Betfred Gold Cup contenders Long Run and Bobs Worth were joined by former Champion Hurdle hero Binocular in an illustrious party of three, while Kid Cassidy, Riverside Theatre and Triumph Hurdle favourite Rolling Star were also in action.

Long Run under Nico De Boinville led his two stablemates, picking up the pace on the final circuit of a blowout lasting roughly two miles.

He was pushed out quite vigorously before Bobs Worth and Barry Geraghty finished just ahead, with Binocular (Tony McCoy) hard-held upsides.

Henderson said: "That was great. Kid Cassidy was a bit keen, but that's just him and he's had a good gallop. Andrew Tinkler was very happy with Rolling Star, he was good, and Riverside Theatre seems in great form. He has been very good at home.

"Bobs Worth was the one we were trying to get the work into most, Barry said you wouldn't want to leave him alone and he will work again next weekend, but I have to say he worked very well.

"We let Long Run lob along, he has been quite lazy and we are thinking about using cheekpieces at Cheltenham. Binocular is really well and he found it very easy as he was working with three-mile chasers."

Henderson added that he hoped to take another Champion Hurdle contender in Grandouet to Newbury next Sunday for a gallop.
 
CAPTAIN CONAN ATR Tracker didn’t put a foot wrong and went up over five, jumped really well and SIMONSIG ATR Tracker was excellent.

ROLLING STAR ATR Tracker is in really good order and jumped eight hurdles very fluently.

MEGALYPOS ATR Tracker went up three times and jumped 12 hurdles which will have done him, a world of good and HADRIAN’S APPROACH ATR Tracker jumped ten and could hardly have done it better.
 
"We left the yard at 6am and it was fine then but the same thing happened as yesterday, by 7am it got a bit colder," said Henderson.

"It's just bad luck really. As the ground had been raced on on Friday and Saturday, there were a few bare patches and they had frozen. You couldn't work horses on it, that was for sure.

"We just brought them home but it will have done them some good. They probably thought it was all good fun and it will have got their blood flowing.

"The ground at home was absolutely beautiful, as it was on Saturday when we worked a lot of the others and as it's turned out, we could have worked these ones then as well, but there we go.

"There was Simonsig, Grandouet, Megalypos and a whole load of others. They worked over a mile and a quarter and went a really good gallop.

"It's been a bit frustrating but just about everything has been done now. Simonsig was simply fantastic, he was some sight in full flow."
 
Nicky Henderson's two wonder horses can top Cheltenham Festival bill | Sport | The Observer

It looks as if horse racing is about to get lucky again. Following a remarkable succession of charismatic, headline-grabbing stars over the past few years, the sport is preparing to laud Sprinter Sacre and Simonsig, two flashy young steeplechasers who may be among the best there has ever been and the most likely winners at this week's Cheltenham Festival.

Like Kauto Star and Denman, the now retired pair who dominated recent festivals, they are stablemates and, as with those two, it appears they must eventually take each other on. Racing fans anticipate that moment keenly, though it might be a full year away; for now, they are like a couple of boxers, beating up everyone else until the head-to-head can no longer be postponed.

Sprinter Sacre, "the black aeroplane", may be the most impressive-looking chaser ever to grace the track and is seemingly aware of it. Unbeaten in seven starts over fences, including the Arkle at last year's Festival, he steps up this time to the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday and bookmakers will offer you no better than 1-4, meaning they rate his chance of success at 80%.

Simonsig, a grey, is milder, a smidgen smaller, prettier in that his looks do not simply roar "Power!" at you, as do those of the black horse. He is a novice, one year behind Sprinter Sacre on the chaser's career ladder, and will therefore run in Tuesday's Arkle, for which odds of 4-6 convert to a 60% chance of victory.

Their trainer is the 62-year-old Nicky Henderson, whose Lambourn stables have been home to a long list of the most talented jumpers in the past quarter-century. "I haven't seen horses that do what they do at home," he says.

Twenty-one years ago, Henderson won the Champion Chase with Remittance Man, still fondly remembered by some as among the classiest of winter heroes. "If Sprinter Sacre worked with Remittance Man," says the trainer, "I could go home, have a coffee and come back and I'd finally find Remittance Man pottering up the gallops. Sprinter Sacre would be back in his box. There's a mile difference."

Breaking the rule normally followed by trainers, that one of their horses must not be compared aloud with another, Henderson contrasts Sprinter Sacre with Bobs Worth, his favourite for the three-mile Gold Cup on Friday. "Bobs Worth, he potters around the place and does his own thing, he would never tell you [about his ability]. He goes out, he comes in and just gets on with the job.

"But Sprinter, he comes out every day and it's, hey! I'm here. It's very showy, it's very swanky. He likes it like that. He knows it." That attitude extends to his box, where visitors are not welcomed. "He can be a grumpy old sod, actually. He just puts his ears back and growls at you because you're in his house. It's his house."

On the racecourse, Sprinter Sacre behaves rather more professionally and the soothing hands of his regular jockey, Barry Geraghty, have taught him to relax and coast for at least the first mile. But Geraghty feels this fairly recent development may have had something to do with the very deep, sapping ground Sprinter Sacre has been running through this winter.

"If you go back to look at the Game Spirit or his novice in Aintree [two races from last spring], he was a bull both days, an absolute ball of fire," the jockey recalls. A similar showing is possible on less saturated ground this week.

Geraghty, lucky enough to be Simonsig's regular jockey as well, describes him as "an easier-going character". He adds: "But as soon as you want him, he's all guns blazing."

When the two finally clash, it will be a difficult moment for Henderson, knowing that his two best horses are about to have a hard race in pursuit of a single prize. But he will be a winner either way; the moment will be much more fraught for Geraghty, who must choose one of them in advance.

The owners of the rejected horse will be upset. They will wish for Geraghty to be proved wrong and, if that should happen, may make a great show of being delighted with their substitute jockey, perhaps even, in a worst-case scenario, pledging the ride to him for evermore.

Small wonder that, when asked which of the two he would be likely to choose, Geraghty prevaricates: "We'll worry about this year for now." But, he is pressed, when you step out of your own situation and consider such a race from a fan's perspective, you must admit how exciting it will be.

"No," he says, firmly. "No, no, no. I know what you mean, but no. That would be no thrill for me. Trying to split them, that'd be like choosing between family, that wouldn't go down well with anyone, myself included."

As Geraghty discusses these horses, it becomes clear that having to make a choice would be difficult for more than purely pragmatic reasons, that he has a deep appreciation of both. "Sprinter Sacre is a monster," he says, with a real sense of wonder. "He's every bit as big a thrill to ride as he looks, probably a bigger thrill.

"For a big horse, he's very athletic, very accurate. He might charge down to one, but he would always … but they're schooled that way in Seven Barrows [Henderson's stable], I always think their brain-foot co-ordination is brilliant. They're measured, they're always putting their foot in the right place. It's just a good system that they're taught, from day one.

"Simonsig likewise, he has so much scope, so much pace. It's harder to talk about him because he's only had the two runs over fences but he's been foot-perfect."

Perhaps Geraghty will never be forced to choose. After all, both horses are capable of winning good races at distances beyond two miles and Simonsig has already done so.

But Henderson has insisted several times that they are "fast horses" who should properly be kept to the minimum distance over which jumps races take place. The suspicion is that, so long as both remain healthy, their career trajectories will carry both to the Champion Chase next year.

And which will prevail? Dan Barber is the jump racing editor at Timeform, the respected ratings organisation, and as well placed as anyone to judge. He points out that Sprinter Sacre, on 183, is already close to the highest ratings allotted to the likes of Moscow Flyer (184) and Kauto Star (191). Then again, Simonsig, on 162, is 2lb ahead of where Sprinter Sacre was this time last year.

Is it asking too much to imagine that Simonsig might be as good as his stablemate in 12 months' time? "Our chase handicapper thinks he can be," says Barber. "I just don't think he has those physical qualities that Sprinter Sacre has.

"Sprinter Sacre's like Usain Bolt, he's a tremendous physical specimen. It's easy to see why he would be the best."
 
Nicky Henderson already planning fresh triumphs after Cheltenham | Sport | The Observer

The pressure of saddling 39 horses over four days of the Cheltenham Festival, followed by a night in celebration of Gold Cup success, seems likely to take a toll but Nicky Henderson's schoolboy enthusiasm was entirely intact early on Saturday morning as he busied his way around his Berkshire stable. Perhaps he was sustained by the thought of the taxi that would turn up at 9.30am, or the plane that would then take him to a French mountain retreat for three days' recuperation.

It was a morning for nursing sore heads and examining lower legs. The sore heads belonged to John Jarvis and Malcolm Kimmins, two of the five owners of Bobs Worth, hero of Friday's Gold Cup, appearing happy but fragile as they watched the trainer examine his runners from the day before.

"Looking at them today isn't going to tell you anything," said Henderson, running his hand down the legs of Anquetta, "except that they're sound or they're not sound. And they all feel all right so far."

Bobs Worth was sound, if unflattered, by standing next to the much more imposing Sprinter Sacre, devastating winner of Wednesday's Champion Chase. He may be alone among Gold Cup winners in being towered over by his groom, though Thomas Dolezal would be one of the tallest in his line of work.

It is his unprepossessing physique that means Bobs Worth has probably run his last race of the season and will not be seen until autumn. "I'm not going to say he's not a robust horse because he's as tough as boots," Henderson said, "but he's not really going to take hard, hard races terribly well.

"Aintree in three weeks' time, I'd have thought, would be highly unlikely. Since I can't run Bobs Worth, I'll run Mr Kimmins instead, because he's got two new knees, two new hips and everything."

Henderson described Bobs Worth as "just a real, honest pro. He'd go to bed at night and get up in the morning and do his job. Sprinter would probably be gone, down playing with the boys and the girls in the nightclub, and still come out and kick everybody into the grandstand."

Partly because of his committed attitude and partly because of the way he is built, Bobs Worth pays a fair price for each race. Sprinter Sacre, by contrast, coasts through them and the trainer expects to send him to Punchestown for next month's festival that closes the Irish season.

It is still possible that Simonsig, Henderson's other Grade One winner of the week, may run again this term but he has to prove his wellbeing, having returned a scope that was "not quite right" after an underwhelming performance in winning the Arkle. "It's lucky we didn't scope him the day before the race," the trainer said, "or he wouldn't have run."

Oscar Whisky was reported "a bit lame" on Friday, the day after his World Hurdle flop. Henderson said he hadn't found anything particularly wrong but the horse is no certainty to line up in next month's Aintree Hurdle, which he has won for the past two years.

Riverside Theatre, a running-on fourth in the Ryanair, is likely to run again this season, when he will be stepped up to three miles. Grandouet, a faller in the Champion Hurdle, will be sent to take on Hurricane Fly at Punchestown with the aim of finding out whether he can compete at that level.

"If we've got enough to give Hurricane Fly any sort of a fright, we could stay hurdling. If he's blatantly 10lb below Hurricane Fly or anything like that, then we'll know to go novice chasing."

My Tent Or Yours, second in the Festival's opening race, is an intended runner at Aintree, where he may clash with his stablemate Forgotten Voice. But Long Run, who had a hard race when third in the Gold Cup, will not run again at the insistence of his owner.

Henderson's prize-money haul from the Festival puts him £390,000 clear in the trainer's title race with just six weeks left in the season. The bookmakers will offer no bigger than 1-8 about him holding off Paul Nicholls to become champion for the first time since 1987 and Nicholls would probably have to field the first or second in the Grand National on 6 April to sustain his challenge.

Cheerful but self-possessed to this point, Henderson threatens to well up when the subject is raised and he is clearly enormously gratified to be in such a position. But he minimises it as "secondary to what's happened. It's been an amazing week, everybody's been brilliant. There's work still to be done."

The National meeting in three weeks' time will count as a retrieval mission for most other yards in the country, since only seven other British trainers managed to make their way to the winners' enclosure at the Festival.

While the stables of Colin Tizzard and Nigel Twiston-Davies punched above their weight with two successes each, supposedly bigger names were squeezed out, their task made harder by the exuberant Irish raiders, who carried off a record 14 prizes.

Nicholls had a single winner from 30 runners, and that in a handicap for conditional jockeys. Others wincing in the West Country this weekend will include David Pipe, who drew a blank with 25 runners, and Philip Hobbs, whose 13 runners managed a single third among them.
 
Don't think Finians could be relied on on this ground so sending Sprinter to Aintree probably sensible if he wants the title. Been a messy season for FR.
 
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