Forty years on from his first Cheltenham festival success, with See You Then in the 1985 Champion Hurdle, Nicky Henderson is still at the peak of his profession – and still taking nothing for granted.
“The only time I’ve ever been confident about anything was Altior’s Supreme [Novice Hurdle in 2016],” Henderson said on Monday. “It didn’t matter what Willie [Mullins] brought over that year, he wasn’t going to beat him.
“But we always have said, you’d settle for one [winner at the Cheltenham festival]. If you have one on the first day then you get the bit between your teeth and you can say, OK, let’s kick on. That one is absolutely crucial, and didn’t we half find out last year, because none is horrendous.”
Setbacks, disappointments and frustrations flew at Henderson from all directions both before and during last year’s festival meeting, as star turns including Constitution Hill, Jonbon and Sir Gino were last-minute scratches as a bug swept through the stable at the worst possible moment of the year. The handful of horses from his yard that made it to post showed little or nothing of their best form, and Henderson’s eventual blank over the four days was his first since 2008.
There has been fresh misfortune already before this year’s meeting with Sir Gino, the likely odds-on favourite for the Arkle Trophy on the meeting’s opening day, ruled out with an injury.
But the most successful British-based trainer at the meeting over the last four decades still has several big chances across the week, including three current Grade One favourites in Constitution Hill, in the Champion Hurdle on 11 March, Jonbon, in the Champion Chase the following day, and Lulamba in the Triumph Hurdle, the opener on the final afternoon on 14 March.
Warwick 1.10 Deafening Silence 1.40 Keppel Queen 2.10 Prophesea 2.40 Demnat (nb) 3.10 Casi Crudo 3.40 Lanesborough 4.10 The Midwife 4.40 Claim Du Brizais
Exeter 2.00 Kap Vert 2.30 Alcedo 3.00 La Malmason 3.30 Jacks Parrot 4.00 Ascending Lark 4.30 Shuil Ceoil 5.05 Uptown Dandy
Southwell 4.15 Coeur Jaune 4.45 Java Raja 5.15 Liam Swagger 5.45 Panama Black 6.15 Fools Rush In 6.45 Taskheer 7.15 Pinjarra 7.45 Billy McGarry 8.15 Tortured Soul (nap)
All three were on parade here on Monday along with Palladium, last year’s German Derby winner, who is also on course for the Triumph, and clearly in excellent health.
The market leaders for the feature events on the first two days of the festival have sharply differing characters. “[Constitution Hill] is the most laid-back person you’ll ever come across, and the other one is a complete fuss-pot and can’t stand still for two minutes,” Henderson said. “The other horse [Constitution Hill] would stand still for two days, I could tie him up to a telegraph pole and come back and get him in the morning and he’d be fine.”
Constitution Hill, who remains unbeaten after 10 starts over hurdles, has raced just four times since winning the Champion Hurdle in 2023, and spent a year on the sidelines between his two wins in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton in December 2023 and 2024. But he appeared to be back to something close to his best on Boxing Day last year and followed up in comfortable fashion – bar an unexpected mistake at the last – in the International Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.
“Funnily enough, from my point of view, I hated Cheltenham the other day,” Henderson says. “It absolutely killed me, because I think we went into Kempton with half a mind that he could easily get beaten, and if he did, we felt we’ll be all right in March … [but] Cheltenham was something else. That day absolutely did me in because it was sort of a no-win situation, wasn’t it?
“His work is the same [as it was before his latest start]. I suspect Nico [de Boinville, his big-race jockey] will have a sit on him this week just to see where he is and how he feels but I suppose he’d better jump a hurdle at some stage. You hardly want to go in [to the Champion Hurdle] with the last hurdle he jumped being that one.”
Huntingdon: 1.45 Wotter Trotter 2.15 Pittsburg 2.45 Punxsutawney Phil 3.15 Sea Presenting 3.45 Morandi Second 4.15 Royal King 4.45 Alexandra Larose.
Lingfield: 2.05 Game Colours 2.35 Twilight Glory 3.05 Last Rodeo 3.35 Fortunefavorsdbold 4.05 Weaver’s Answer 4.35 Miss Fedora 5.05 Double Oban.
Newcastle: 4.55 Book Of Life 5.30 Beneficiary 6.00 Saxonia 6.30 Badri 7.00 Likeashadow 7.30 Mereside Madness (nap) 8.00 Hurstwood (nb) 8.30 King’s Crown.
Next month’s Champion Hurdle promises to be one of deepest and strongest for many years, with State Man, last year’s winner, and the high-class mares Brighterdaysahead and Lossiemouth – the runner-up in the Christmas Hurdle – all seemingly being aimed at the race.
“You’re certainly going to get pace,” Henderson said. “It’s what she [Brighterdaysahead] has always done [but] the one good thing is that he can travel off any pace. The pace that Lossiemouth found difficult at Kempton was no worry to him, he can travel at a very high speed.”
There was a hint of reception that Henderson, De Boinville and Constitution Hill can expect if he retains his unbeaten record next month after his latest success at short odds in January.
Ludlow: 2.00 No Questions Asked 2.30 Bold Recruit 3.05 Current Mood 3.35 Moon Chime 4.10 Kelce 4.43 Hazard Collonges 5.13 Midnight Ginger.
Doncaster: 2.15 Queens Wish 2.50 God’s Own Getaway 3.20 Farmer Jimmy 3.58 Super Citizen 4.33 Gwennie May Star 5.03 Coolmoyne
Kempton: 4.25 El Hibri 4.55 Mighty Gurkha 5.30 Target Man 6.00 Cosmic Force 6.30 Papa Oscar 7.00 Aviano 7.30 Mesaafi (nap) 8.00 Local Hero (nb) 8.30 Bruce Banner.
“The last time I saw that sort of crowd [for a Cheltenham winner] was in Sprinter Sacre’s day,” Henderson said. “It’s a very special thing. People do love these horses and it shows that a ‘boring’ five-horse race with a 1-12 shot, to some people it’s a tragedy but for most people it was something fantastic.
“It means a lot to us that people love him. We just look after him, we’re the curator of something that is a bit special and so’s the other fella [Jonbon], and it’s just great that people do like them.”
