Nicky Henderson: “He has been excellent all the way through and schooled beautifully last week”

WEDNESDAY – CHELTENHAM

1:30 G1 Ballymore Hurdle

I Am Maximus (Nico De Boinville)

We were thinking about the Coral Cup because I do think he could be well treated off 134 but as it is, he wouldn’t have even made the cut for that race anyway so we’re coming here and to be honest, while he needs to improve, I do think the smaller field will play to his strengths. He’s learning all the time and a big field Handicap might not be exactly what he wants at this stage of his life. His work has been very good and he’s a horse with a very bright future but whether he’s ready to win a Ballymore I wouldn’t be entirely confident, but he’s in great shape and a reproduction of his effort behind Hillcrest wouldn’t see him that far away.

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2:10 G1 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase

Dusart (Nico De Boinville)

This is obviously a big step up but on the plus side we are going the right way round because he kept jumping left at Exeter so he should be happier on this track and he is a very smart horse. Bravemansgame will be very hard to beat but anything can happen in these sort of races and if he can hunt his way round and be in a good position at the top of the hill, he could easily run into a place. He’s definitely a horse for next season though.

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2:50 Coral Cup

Call Me Lord (Daryl Jacob)

He’s got some decent form at the track including when he won the Unibet International Hurdle and if he can run like he did at Kempton in the Lanzarote on his penultimate start he’d have a solid each way shout off a career low handicap mark.

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3:30 G1 Champion Chase

Shishkin (Nico De Boinville)

There’s not much I can say that you don’t already know so it’s just a case of keeping everything crossed that he gets there in one piece and comes home in one piece. He has been excellent all the way through and schooled beautifully last week. I do think he’s marginally better going left handed so we have that in our favour but I must admit this is a very good Champion Chase and there’s no doubt it is the race of the week.

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