Nicky Henderson Cheltenham Festival stable tour: Seven Barrows trainer provides updates on Constitution Hill, Jonbon and more | Racing News
Nicky Henderson had his first Cheltenham Festival winner 40 years ago when See You Then lifted the first of three Champion Hurdles and hopes at Seven Barrows are high that he can add to his score of 73 winners at those special four days in March.
Constitution Hill looks to regain his Champion Hurdle crown, Jonbon looks a very worthy favourite for the Champion Chase and Lulamba is a strong fancy for the Triumph Hurdle. German Derby winner Palladium also entertains strong possibilities of winning the race sponsored by owner Lady Bamford.
There is also a strong supporting cast with Stayers’ Hurdle prospect Lucky Place looking the most obvious, and with any luck at all, Henderson will not suffer a repeat of last year’s rare blank.
Henderson said: “We are lucky to be still here but you are always still going to be here if you have these sort of horses. We are very lucky to have some very high-class horses and you have to have fresh blood coming in. They can’t all be stars but the more you have to play with the more chance you have of finding the good ones.
“The only time I have been confident about a horse winning was Altior’s Supreme and it didn’t matter what Willie brought over that year he wasn’t going to beat Altior. We have always said we will settle for one and if you can have one on the first day it gets the bit between the teeth. One is absolutely crucial and we didn’t have one last year which was horrendous.”
Chantry House
This 154-rated chaser scored by six-and-a-half lengths from Our Power in a handicap chase at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day off a mark of 149 and was subsequently fifth, beaten 30 lengths, to L’Homme Presse in the Grade 2 Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham at the end of January.
Henderson said: “He will go for the Ultima Handicap. He is in good form and he was due to go Hunter Chasing and then we won a good race with him.”
Constitution Hill
This 175-rated formidable hurdler is unbeaten in 10 starts under rules and was confined to one run over hurdles last season, which resulted in a nine-and-a-half length victory in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, but galloped unsatisfactorily before his intended bid to win a second Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and missed the race.
Subsequently, he had a wind operation and returned in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton (2m) to score easily by two-and-a-half lengths from Lossiemouth. Followed up with an easy three-length victory from Brentford Hope in the Grade 2 Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham in January after overcoming a rare mistake at the last.
“It didn’t start that well in that we had to miss the Fighting Fifth but everything has been great since. He came back in the Christmas Hurdle and we thought that if there was ever a time he would be beaten it would be then. I hated Cheltenham the other day as it nearly killed me as we went into Kempton thinking we half could be beaten and then we would be fine for March. He was good at Kempton and it was a no-win situation as if he did something, which as it turned out he did, and a win at Cheltenham was a lot more pressure but he did and, apart from smashing through the last he did it very well.
“We walked away from Kempton thinking we didn’t have to run him again before March but he came back a week later and was so well in himself and he looked fantastic. I suspect I surprised everybody when we ran him at Cheltenham. We have three weeks to go and his work is still the same and he looks in great shape. Nico will have a sit on him in the week and we will see where he is and how he feels. I suppose he will have to jump a hurdle at some stage just to eliminate that memory of that last hurdle. I don’t know what he did really as I have watched the replay a few times and it’s hard to work out exactly what he did.
“There should be plenty of pace in the Champion Hurdle with Brighterdaysahead in the race and the one good thing is that Constitution Hill can travel off any pace. He can travel at a very high pace and he has bags of pace. In the Champion Hurdle two years ago he did something similar at the last and a lot of horses would have fallen the other day but he found a leg and galloped off as he was still a fresh horse but I’d rather he didn’t do it again.”
East India Express
This 129-rated hurdler has won his last two starts, first scoring by a head from Double Powerful in a conditional jockeys handicap hurdle at Ascot in December off a mark of 123 before following up off the same mark in a handicap hurdle at Kempton six days later.
“He will go for the Martin Pipe Conditional – Freddy (Gordon) has won on him twice it’s a keep them together job. He won at Ascot and Kempton in the space of seven days and I won’t take the credit for it as I was on my way to Ascot for the boy’s race.
Jerry McGrath rang me up and said, ‘Why don’t you put East India Express in at Kempton next Saturday?’ I said ‘Why would I want to do that?’ and he said, ‘When it wins at Ascot you won’t get a penalty next weekend,’ and I said, ‘But he won’t win at Ascot’. ‘You never know,’ says Jerry and I thought ‘Jerry knows a lot more what’s going on in the yard than I do!'”
“He is very well and, hopefully, holds a solid chance.”
Jango Baie
This 153-rated chaser looked an even better chaser than he was a hurdler and impressed when scoring by six-and-a-half lengths from Springwell Bay on his debut in a novices’ chase at Cheltenham in December. He put up another cracking performance when runner-up, beaten a short head, to Handstands in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown this month.
“The Arkle would be our line of argument at the moment. Our original plan was that he was a two-and-a-half-mile horse but I think he is more likely to down in trip rather than up. I am sure he will stay three miles and the dilemma is that the two-and-a-half-mile chase has been taken away the year we have a horse for it.
“They go a good gallop in the Arkle and that will suit him perfectly. I thought he was very good at Sandown the other day and he was only beaten a short head in desperate ground. He jumped beautifully and was very accurate and he has pace. Better ground will suit him and Sir Gino has left the door open for him.”
Jingko Blue
This horse impressed when beating Hashtag Boum nine-and-a-half lengths on his chasing bow in a novices’ handicap at Uttoxeter in December off a mark of 140 and followed up with a two and a quarter lengths victory from Lowry’s Bar in the Grade 2 Hampton Novices’ Chase at Windsor in January. Sprawled on landing at the third and unseated his rider in the Grade 2 Reynoldstown Chase at Ascot on Saturday.
“Saturday put a spanner in the works for him and we are going to put him in the Pendil at the weekend. You wouldn’t want to go to the Brown Advisory on the back of what happened at Ascot. It’s only two and a half miles and I wanted to go three to see what stamina was there. I can’t run him in the two-and-a-half mile handicap chase as he was too high and he needs three runs to run in a handicap.”
Jonbon
Jonbon has won 17 of his 20 starts and is unbeaten in three runs this season. He scored in the Grade 2 Shloer Chase at Cheltenham in November for a second time when beating Boothill a length and a half and followed up with an eight-length success from Quilixios when landing the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown in December for a second occasion, before putting up another stellar performance when beating Energumene in the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase at Ascot in January.
“He was very good at Ascot the other day and he has now won eight Grade 1s. He is an entertaining character too and he can’t stand still for two minutes where Constitution Hill could stand still for two days. He did nothing wrong last year but made one mistake in the Clarence House when it was run at Cheltenham and he couldn’t go to the Champion Chase, which turned out to be a bit flat as El Fabiolo was intent on putting holes in fences and it turned into a bit of a flop.
“If he had been there you would have to say it wouldn’t have been the hardest race he ever had but he wasn’t there. You have to win the Champion Chase to be a champion and he deserves to.”
Lucky Place
This 153-rated hurdler has looked an improved performer this season and has won both of his starts. He struck by a length from Blueking d’Oroux in the Grade 2 Ascot Hurdle at Ascot in November and followed that up with a three-quarter length victory from Gowel Road in the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.
“He would be very high on my list as one of my main contenders. He started the year meaning to go novice chasing and he was all schooled up and ready to go. At the time we had a whole string of novice chasers ready to go and three of them have finished up going back over hurdles as there was the opportunity for them to go over fences.
“At the last minute, I popped him in the Ascot Hurdle as there was nowhere else to go and he is a very likeable uncomplicated horse. He has a great attitude and we are taking the stamina on trial but the form of when he won has worked out well. He has pretty solid form and with him, we didn’t need to test him over three miles before the Stayers’ Hurdle. If you go on Trials Day over three miles you are definitely going to get a hard race. We trust his stamina and we are happy to find out on the day. He is working really well and is in good order.”
Lulamba
This Triumph Hurdle hopeful won a three-year-old hurdle at Auteuil in October and was mightily impressive on his stable debut at Ascot in January when beating Mondo Man by three-and-a-half lengths.
“He is terribly well and would have to have a racecourse gallop so we are considering running him in the Adonis. He has only had two runs in his life but he and Palladium will work tomorrow and we will decide.
“He looks very good, is very laid back and has a lovely attitude. However, he has only had two runs in his life. He is a big scopey horse and you could see him jumping a fence next year.”
Palladium
This contender was the winner of the Group 1 German Derby at Hamburg last July and made a winning debut over hurdles for the stable when scoring by two lengths from Wolf Moon at Huntingdon in January.
“He will be entered for the Adonis and we will work him tomorrow and decide. The Huntingdon form has turned out to be red hot and the time of the race was fantastic. It was six seconds faster than the second division and the second, third, fourth and eighth have all won since.
“The way he has been working and schooling we have to ask ourselves does he really need to go to Kempton? He has done a mountain of racing and we don’t know whether he needs to go but we will see. He has been terrific all the way through and he has a fantastic temperament.”
Best of the rest
Doddiethegreat: “I like the way he ran at Haydock on Saturday and he will be one of my four entries for the Pertemps Final. I like the way Doddie finished his race on Saturday that was great and he booked his ticket.”
Fantastic Lady: “She won’t get in the Grand National and the handicapper has decided to drop her 2lb which means she can get in the Kim Muir which is 0-145.”
Impose Toi: “He goes for the Coral or the Martin Pipe. He won well at Newbury and he was chasing the Lanzarote Hurdle but that was off and that was his race. If that was his race then so is the Coral.”
Mister Coffey: “He is in very good form. He was doing great and ran that great race in the Grand National and galloped until he dropped that day. When you get down too low in the well it takes time for them to get over it. We were going to retire him and I said we have two games up our sleeve – we’ll go Hunter Chasing or to the Cross Country and one of them might re-ignite the flame. He has run two really good races and is loving it.”
Shanagh Bob: “I like the way Shanagh Bob ran at Huntingdon and he would be another of my contenders for the Pertemps Final. He then had to have another run and that bought his ticket to Cheltenham.”
Wiseguy: “I was pleased with the way he ran as Ascot on Saturday and he will go for the Kim Muir.”
Henderson kindly spoke to Tony Elves of Attheraces.com about his Cheltenham hopes.
