Nicky Henderson: “The ground should be perfect for Altior and Shishkin”

KEMPTON

12:45 Introductry Juvenile Hurdle

Heross Du Seuil (Nico de Boinville)

He’s a very nice horse who won an AQPS flat race and I very much like what he’s done since he arrived at Seven Barrows. His schooling has been very good and he’s an extremely uncomplicated horse who works very nicely, and while I expect him to learn quite a lot for the experience he’s a person we think quite a lot of and this is a nice place to start so I’m quite hopeful.

1:20 G2 Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase

Shishkin (Nico de Boinville)

He’s in great form and schooled beautifully on Wednesday morning so arrives here in great form and this seemed the next logical step after his easy victory at the course last time. Apart from falling on his hurdles debut he has done absolutely nothing wrong and it’s hard to find any sort of chink in his armour. The ground should be absolutely perfect and we’ll try and keep things pretty simple.

Elusive Belle (Sam Waley-Cohen)

She is a very good filly and I thought she put up an excellent performance at Newbury the other day. There aren’t too many races for mares like her but she deserves to take her chance and the track will really suit. It would be nice to gain some Black Type and she’s certainly not here just to make up the numbers.

Epatante Altior Shishkin

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— Unibet Racing (@UnibetRacing) December 24, 2020

2:30 G2 Desert Orchid Chase

Altior (Nico de Boinville)

As you all know this wasn’t plan A but it’s not a bad place to start off his season and the ground should be absolutely perfect. It’s always better at Kempton than anywhere else and I’m extremely happy with him coming into this. He schooled on Wednesday morning and from what I could see, because it was terribly foggy, he looked great and was his usual enthusiastic self. It’s a decent little race, and so it should be, but I’m looking forward to getting him out.