Nicky Henderson | Cheltenham Festival Day One: “I wouldn’t swap Constitution Hill for anything… we can’t wait for it”
Nicky Henderson | Cheltenham Festival Day One: “I wouldn’t swap Constitution Hill for anything… we can’t wait for it”
CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL – TUESDAY
2:00 G1 Arkle Novices’ Chase
Jango Baie (Nico de Boinville)
He was very good on his Chase debut at Cheltenham in December and then was narrowly beaten in a Grade One at Sandown on horrible ground over two and a half, so has done nothing wrong over fences. This was not the original plan, I must admit, but he is more than an able substitute for Sir Gino, who sadly cannot be here.
The drop-back trip will not be a problem, and Nico will make plenty of use of him to try and get them at it. He’s a very sharp horse who jumps particularly well, and I am very much looking forward to it.
Unibet are SUPER BOOSTING the price of EVERY runner in this race!
3:20 G1 Mares’ Hurdle
Joyeuse (Nico de Boinville)
She was impressive at Newbury last time and has come out of that in great shape. She cannot run in the Handicaps because she hasn’t had enough runs over hurdles so when connections announced Brighterdaysahead would go for the Unibet Champion Hurdle, the decision to supplement for this was made a little bit easier; although now that Lossiemouth has been declared, our task has been made that much harder!
Joyeuse is a very straightforward mare, who is closely related to Epatante, and I’m hopeful of a very good run.
Unibet are SUPER BOOSTING the price of EVERY runner in this race!
4:00 UNIBET CHAMPION HURDLE
CONSTITUTION HILL (Nico de Boinville)
The talking has all been done, as has the work and schooling, so it’s just up to him to go out there and show what we all know he can do. Everything has gone well since the Unibet Hurdle in January and he enjoyed an away day at Kempton a couple of weeks ago, which will have sharpened him up mentally and physically, and he was electric in a schooling session last week; he was breathtaking really!
It’s hard to say he’s better than ever, but I do think he’s as good as we’ve had him and I really hope he can regain his crown having been forced to miss last year.
Brighterdaysahead is a formidable mare, and receives a handy weight allowance, but I wouldn’t swap Constitution Hill for anything.
We are all very excited and cannot wait until 4:00pm on Tuesday!
Unibet are BEST INDUSTRY PRICE GUARANTEED every runner in this race!
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