Nicky Henderson going fears over Buveur D'Air
(March 11 2017)
Nicky Henderson will walk the course at Cheltenham on Sunday morning to get a feel for himself of how going conditions are shaping up for the Festival, which gets underway 48 hours later.
The trainer has a host of major contenders for the meeting, including three leading contenders for the Stan James Champion Hurdle, but speaking at the post-racing Cheltenham Festival preview at Sandown on Saturday evening, Henderson said he felt ‘the pendulum might be swinging’ against the horse that is the shortest-priced of the trio, recent Sandown scorer Buveur D’Air.
The man who has sent out more Cheltenham Festival winners than any other trainer said: “I’m going to have a look at the ground in the morning and see which way it’s going.
“The important thing for our trio in the Champion Hurdle is going to be the ground. Between our lot, he is the one guy who really loves soft ground. The pendulum sounds like it’s swinging towards the other two. It’s not like he can’t go on good ground, he’s just so effective on soft ground. I’m very happy where he is.
“On soft ground, I see Buveur D’Air doing best. On good ground, Brain Power might just have the edge.”
Also appearing on the same panel was Alan King, trainer of the race’s favourite Yanworth, who offered a positive report on a recent schooling session with Mark Walsh, the rider who has come in for the mount in the injury-enforced absence of Barry Geraghty.
“He popped over 10 flights with Mark Walsh on Thursday morning and he’s never jumped quicker or slicker,” said King. “All I can say he’s in the best form I’ve had him in all season. Whether that’s good enough to win, I don’t know, but I certainly think he’s going to run a big race.”
Nine other snippets of note to emerge from the preview
1) Nicky Henderson is still thinking of running L’Ami Serge in the Champion Chase, but says the only way he can envisage defeat for Douvan is if he’s taken on for the lead by the likes of Special Tiara and his jumping comes under pressure. “He just wouldn’t want to get too low at one,” says Henderson.
2) Alan King said he was still to decide about the possibility of putting headgear back on Uxizandre in the Ryanair. “I imagine he’ll run in cheekpieces, but it’s still not finalised,” he said. “I never like to run them back first time after a break in headgear, so I kept them off him then, but I might just run him in cheekpieces and keep the visor back for later if we need it. I’ll talk to JP and Frank on Sunday morning about it.”
3) Henderson said he was “not convinced” by Unowhatimeanharry – Jezki gets his vote in the Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle. “I think they’ve had a couple of issues with his wind and on good ground, I can see him lasting over the trip. He’s a good horse.”
4) Charli Parcs received a substantial vote of confidence from the trainer, despite his latest fall at Kempton. He’s clearly firmly on track for the JCB Triumph Hurdle.
“He clearly got into a bit of a muddle down the back last time,” reflected Henderson. “Noel Fehily said he was slightly doing the same thing the first time he won. It’s only the third race he’d ever had of any kind. Noel said just for a moment, he was thinking ‘Henderson has told me this is a machine but he’s not travelling like one’. Then he pulled him out and he was electric. I think the reason he fell is that he just grabbed hold of the bit. He is just very special.
“He has been very good. His schooling is fantastic. I’m afraid he came out of the race quite a bit better than Barry did. It never worried him. Noel rode him on Friday, schooled him, and he was great – he worked excellent. This is a horse I am mad about. I think he’s very talented. I would love it to go good ground by Friday.”
5) King, on the other hand, says he’s “worried about Nicky’s eyesight if he thinks Charli Parcs would have beaten Master Blueyes last time”. However, he still thinks favourite Defi Du Seuil is the one to beat. King is more than willing to forgive a relatively laboured performance from him at Chepstow, a track he seemingly doesn’t have a great deal of time for.
6) Henderson expressed fears over Might Bite’s suitability for Cheltenham, but doesn’t see the fact he also plans to run Whisper and O O Seven in the race as being a negative pointer to the favourite’s prospects.
“I know what Might Bite can do,” said the trainer. “He’s got into this position of being favourite because of what he was going to achieve at Kempton and it would have been mighty. He got beaten at Ffos Las, but he got into a rhythm after that at home and I think he is a very good horse.
“I am nervous about Cheltenham for him, but to be fair, until the day before yesterday, I have never seen him school so well. What I would say is that I do think that if Might Bite is favourite, it doesn’t smack of it being the hottest, hottest RSA. O O Seven would have to carry 11st 8lb in the Ultima. Whisper is an old horse learning new tricks and this looked easier than the JLT. We’ve got to run all of our horses in the race that suits them best. The more mud you through at it…”
7) King gave Messire Des Obeaux a very good talking-up ahead of the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle. “He’s come out of his race at Huntingdon very well, and that race has done what I hoped it would do,” he said. “I can’t see us beating Neon Wolf, but he’s 10/1-12/1 and I think that’s a huge each-way price. I just can’t see him being out of the frame.”
8) Henderson confirmed that Divin Bere has undergone “some tinkering with his soft palate” since Huntingdon. “Can we win the Fred Winter off top weight? It’s a big ask, but I like Divin Bere and it’s possible to argue that he’s about 10-15lb well-in on his form with Master Blueyes.”
9) Alan King runs Elgin in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle: “He’ll run. He was a decent second to Neon Wolf at Haydock. His form woldn’t be good enough to win but I think he can run well. Good ground will suit him and I don’t think the tracks he has been running at have been playing to his strengths as much as Cheltenham might.”