Nicky Henderson: “This is a stepping stone for Buveur D’Air. He’ll need it”

A RARE quiet weekend for us with just two runners on Saturday but that is often the case at this time of year because we’re only a week or so off Cheltenham so all our festival runners are currently being wrapped up ready for that, but we’ll still have a few out and about over the next few days including the likes of Bold Reaction, who was unlucky not to have won his bumper at Doncaster in January, and Rathmacknee ran well on his first run for us at Wetherby and has a couple of options as well.

Cheltenham plans are beginning to sort themselves out and Shishkin and Chantry House schooled very well on Thursday morning. Chantry House was excellent and Nico was very pleased afterwards -he seems in particularly good form and really attacked his fences so he heads to the Gold Cup with a rock solid chance in what is a very open race this year. The same can be said for the Champion Chase which looks a cracking renewal as well but Shiskin also jumped with his usual zest and while he’s obviously done nothing wrong at all, I am rather looking forward to getting him back on a left handed track because I do think he’s marginally better going that way round.

We took a few to gallop at Kempton on Tuesday and I was very pleased with them all. Constitution Hill went round with Epatante and they both worked nicely together, while Jonbon enjoyed a solo spin under Aidan Coleman and that would have put him spot on. He’s definitely much calmer and relaxing more which has been the aim and there has been no discussion about going anywhere else apart from the Supreme.

Next week I’ll be busy doing Cheltenham previews all over the place but we start with a bang when myself and Nico will be on the panel for the Unibet Cheltenham Preview on Monday night from 7:30pm. I am told you can watch it live on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube (whatever they all are!) so be sure to tune in if you can.

🐴 Cheltenham Festival Preview Night

📅 Monday 7th March, 19:30

🎙️ Mark Pougatch🗣️ Nicky Henderson🗣️ Nico de Boinville🗣️ Lizzie Kelly🗣️ Jamie Codd

Live via https://t.co/nowOKSeNCt pic.twitter.com/GFXnnH3xQz

— Unibet Racing (@UnibetRacing) March 2, 2022

NEWBURY

2:27 Flinteur Sacre (Aidan Coleman)

Unfortunately he has been lumbered as being a full brother to dear old Sprinter, therefore he was always going to be placed upon a pedestal which is a shame because he’s a very nice fun horse in his own right. He was extremely keen in his early days, and it’s very much a case of getting him to settle and breathe properly; but he will definitely have needed his first run at Warwick last time and it’s still relatively early days in his career. He’s off 104 now so doesn’t really have any excuses and I think he could be coming good at the right time.

KELSO

3:15 Buveur D’air (Nico De Boinville)

First of all, it’s absolutely fantastic to have him back with us, albeit he’s only really been at Seven Barrows for the last eight weeks or so, but he’s done lots of preparation work at Martinstown and I’m really looking forward to getting him back on track. I thought he ran an excellent race at Aintree on what turned out to be his last run of the season and it is to the Aintree Hurdle where we want to end up and this is very much a stepping stone towards that. He will certainly improve for the run but his work has been good and his jumping is a slick as ever so we’re ready to rock and roll.

🗣️ Here's Nicky Henderson on the returning Buveur D'Air who heads to @KelsoRacecourse on Saturday 📹👇 pic.twitter.com/jRqBpEroyP

— Unibet Racing (@UnibetRacing) March 4, 2022