Nicky Henderson: “I couldn’t be happier with Champ”

Cheltenham Festival Wednesday

1:30 G1 Ballymore Hurdle

Son Of Camas (Nico de Boinville)

He was entered in the Supreme (over two miles) but he definitely shapes as though the extra half mile will suit as he appeared to get slightly outpaced in the Unibet Tolworth Hurdle last time so this track should play to his strengths. I’m under no illusions that Envoi Allen will be incredibly hard to beat but I see no reason why Son Of Camas isn’t capable of running into a place.

 

2:10 G1 RSA Chase

Champ (Barry Geraghty)

It all went belly up on New Year’s Day when he looked the likely winner of the Dipper but fell so he’s done lots of intense schooling and even went to a racecourse and jumped ten fences immaculately. He was quite keen over hurdles but fences have calmed him down a bit and he’s much more the finished article nowadays. Obviously he has a big name to live up to but I couldn’t be happier with him coming into this race and I’m very excited about seeing how far he can go chasing.

Pym (Nico de Boinville)

We were going to skip this and save him for Aintree but he’s in such good form and with a big of luck the ground might not be that bad. It was bottomless at Ascot so I have no concerns drawing a line through that and let’s not forget he’s won at the course when making all the running. He’s a tough customer who jumps and stays and deserves his place in the line up.

 

2:50 Coral Cup

Dame De Compagnie (Barry Geraghty)

We’ve kept her nice and fresh for this race since winning over 2m4f on the New Course in December for which she is now 8lbs higher and competes off a career high mark of 140, but she’s still quite unexposed and is a mare we’ve always held in high regard. One can never be confident in a field with this amount of runners but her work has been very good and I’ll be disappointed if she isn’t capable of going close.

Birchdale (Aidan Coleman)

We thought he was going to be one of our top novice chasers this season but he ran abysmally on debut at Ascot in November so we drew stumps, gave him a full MOT and have switched back to hurdles in the hope he can get his career back on track. I made the mistake of running him in the Albert Bartlett last season when I should have put him in the Ballymore and swopped him with Champ but hindsight is a great thing. He’s got plenty of weight but is a big strong horse who should be up to carrying it and he arrives here in very good form. On home work, there’s very little between him and Dame De Compagnie.

Burrows Edge (Nico de Boinville)

Some people say he was lucky to win the Unibet Lanzarote Hurdle but I’m inclined to disagree – although I am slightly biased! He got put up 6lbs for that effort so he’s off a career high mark but the cheek pieces will hopefully bring out a little more from him and I think has a right chance in this. To be quite honest, I’m extremely happy with the trio representing us.

 

3:30 G1 Champion Chase

Altior (Nico de Boinville) NON RUNNER

Everybody knows what an uphill struggle it’s been with Altior this season and that was before all the antics of Sunday morning! All I can say is his participation is still very much in the balance but if he does take his chance, he’s fit, well and all of his work and schooling had been done last week so he hasn’t missed out where that is concerned. Obviously it is not ideal coming into a Championship race this way; had the splint flared up a month ago, it wouldn’t have been a problem but it’s Sod’s law that it’s reared its ugly head when it has. It’s a great race and I really hope he is able to take part and prove he’s the best in the business.

 

4:10 Cross Country

Might Bite (Nico de Boinville)

We’ve completely changed his training regime and Dave Fehily takes him all over the place to keep him guesssing which seems to be working as he ran a very good race in the Denman last time. I must admit this race wasn’t on our mind at the start of the season but we have figured out if you point him at anything, he’ll jump it, and he had a barrel of laughs when Nico popped him over a few of the Cross Country fences at the track a couple of weeks ago. Tiger Roll and Easysland are very experienced over these obstacles so look to have the race between them but Might Bite has a new zest for life and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him put in a massive effort.

 

4:50 G2 Boodles Juvenile Hurdle

Palladium (Nico de Boinville)

He’s won his last two races very impressively but as a consequence the handicapper has put him up to a mark of 137 which will make things incredibly difficult for him. That said, I don’t see the ground being an issue and if he gets some luck he won’t disgrace himself.

Fraser Island (Jerry McGrath)

He was a solid flat performer for Mark Johnston and has taken quite well to hurdles having won on debut and putting up two solid efforts in defeat thereafter. He’s now handicapped and it will be interesting to see how well treated he is off 132, but he’s done everything right at home and If he copes with the ground I’d be quietly optimistic  he can be thereabouts.