Racing: A difficult act to follow

Sunday 10 March 2013

N icky Henderson believes you need an awful lot of ammunition for Cheltenham.

Nicky Henderson with his superstar, Sprinter Sacre Photograph: Getty

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Paul Wheeler

He saddled six runners for last year's Grand Annual Chase, run in the memory of his late father, Johnny, who helped save the track from the bulldozers and developers 50 years before.

The script appeared to be written for a perfect end to the trainer's perfect week when Tanks For That led at the second-last fence but then Henderson watched in mounting horror. "When Tanks For That jumped the last in front I could see one coming up behind him. I thought 'oh my God no' and then 'oh, it's one of mine'," he said of Bellvano's victory.

That brief moment of confusion was Henderson's only false step as he took a wrecking ball to the Festival record books, supplanting Fulke Walwyn as the most successful trainer in the fixture's history with 46 winners, 14 ahead of Paul Nicholls. He also saddled the most winners in one Festival (seven) and the most in one day (four). And this week one of his 35 or so runners could be the hottest favourite since Arkle. No pressure then. However, the calibre of Henderson's horses is such that if My Tent Or Yours (Supreme Novices' Hurdle) and Simonsig (Arkle Trophy) live up to their reputations he could leave the rest of the trainers in a state of confusion even before the first big race of the week, the Stan James Champion Hurdle, in which Binocular and Grandouet will attempt to give the yard a record-breaking sixth victory. Many of Henderson's horses have been aimed at Cheltenham with a single-minded clarity of thought which has included a few tactics to stop their minds becoming stale through the routine weeks of training. Thus, he sent out Long Run – along with Bobs Worth a contender for the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup – and Binocular on an excursion that was more like the road to nowhere. "I stuck them in a horsebox and drove them twice around the village and pitched them up at somewhere they didn't know. They were still only on the other side of that hedge," said Henderson at his Seven Barrows stable in Lambourn, pointing to a spot less than 300 yards away. "I don't know, maybe I'm just being stupid, but you think you're doing something constructive." This winter it has been the way Sprinter Sacre has demolished all opposition put before him that has captured the public's imagination and is likely to see him go off as the shortest-priced Festival favourite since Arkle won the Gold Cup at 10-1 on in 1966. Suggestions that Sprinter Sacre is jump racing's answer to Frankel elicit a wince from Henderson, but the comparison is becoming ever more realistic, even if it heaps more pressure on the man himself. Henderson is easy to spot in a crowd as his tailor has to put an extra pocket on the sleeve of his jacket to accommodate his heart, which will be pounding at its fastest when Sprinter Sacre jumps the 13 fences of the Sportingbet Queen Mother Champion Chase. "I like watching him at home, that's fun", Henderson said. "I don't enjoy the races but Barry [Geraghty, the stable jockey] says he's out there having an absolute ball." The sight of the "big, black aeroplane", as Henderson describes the horse, winging fences as if they were hurdles is one that fills the man with awe and dread in near equal measure but while measuring performance has become a science, Henderson still relies on the horseman's eye and what he beholds cannot be easily measured. "He's hugely talented and it's just phenomenal natural talent," Henderson said as he tried to dissect an animal he regards less as a racehorse and more as a force of nature. "If you analyse horses, through their confirmation, he's as good-looking a horse as I think you'll ever see."You can put that together and it doesn't always work but he's a gorgeous horse who's got so much talent that it's all just terribly easy to him. In his races, anything but something spectacular is a disappointment to everybody. But, luckily each time he's come out, he's put on a show." Henderson is likely to aim six at the Grand Annual but it will be Sprinter Sacre who will be shooting for the stars.

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Racing: A difficult act to follow

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