Nicky Henderson: “Chantry House will blow away the cobwebs at Sandown”

SUNDAY – SANDOWN

1:00

Fugitives Drift (James Bowen)

He ended last season with a nice win at Cartmel over two miles but he gets this trip well and won’t mind the ground. He’s happier when he can get into a rhythm up front so we’ll probably employ similar tactics again and James gets on well with him so it makes sense for him to keep the ride. I’ve been happy with him at home and he should run a nice race.

Son Of Camas (Nico de Boinville)

Things haven’t really gone his way since his novice hurdling days but I maintain there’s a decent race in him and we’ve tinkered with his wind and tweaked a few little issues so he comes into this in good form and two and a half on good to soft is what he wants. He could be one to catch first time out off what looks an attractive mark.

1:35

Blairgowrie (Nico de Boinville)

He’s a lovely big son of Yeats who had a couple of runs in Bumpers last year but jumping is always going to be the name of the game and his schooling has been very good. He’ll probably want further in time but this looks a good starting point and I expect him to put up a decent show.

2:10

Chantry House (Nico de Boinville)

We’ve used this race as a stepping stone for many of our second season novices including Might Bite, Pym and Santini and this should hopefully blow the away the cobwebs and set Chantry House up nicely for the rest of the season. He only has one opponent, so it’s hardly an exciting race for punters, but he’s got to jump and gallop round so fingers crossed he gets through this and then we can focus on the rest of the year.

3:45

Commodore Miller (Nico de Boinville)

We gave him a run for education last May, and he ran ok, but will have learnt plenty and we can now kick on with him because he’s a horse with a lot of ability and I expect him to step up on his first run. He’ll be jumping hurdles sooner rather than later.