Nicky Henderson Stable Tour

Form profile

Winner of five of his 16 starts and currently rated 143 over hurdles. Has finished runner-up in two of his five starts this season and ran well when beaten only two and a quarter lengths by White Rhino in a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham (3m) in December off a mark of 142.

Trainer says

He would be one for the Pertemps and is in good form at present. He ran a good race at Cheltenham in December.

Form profile

Winner of nine of his 18 starts and currently rated 143 over hurdles. Finished fourth, beaten 12 ½ lengths, to Beachcomber in a Pertemps Qualifier at Huntingdon (3m 1f) in January off a mark of 145.

Trainer says

He would be one for the Pertemps Final. He obviously has some good form in the past. I was a little disappointed with him last time, but we might put some headgear on him for the Pertemps.

Form profile

Winner of all of his 8 starts and currently rated 175 over hurdles. A winner at the last two Festivals putting in a superlative performance when slamming stablemate Jonbon 22 lengths in the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2022 and coming back a year later to defeat State Man by nine lengths in the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle. Has never looked like being beaten in any of his starts and made a winning reappearance in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton (2m) on Boxing Day when an easy nine-length victor from Rubaud.

Trainer says

As you know with him, nothing worries him and he would even run on Friday 13th if he had too. He is in very good shape, and I would be very happy is in the same shape as this time last year. He was ready at Christmas as he should have gone to Newcastle, so he was very well prepped for the Christmas Hurdle. I would like to have one away day and that will do it. His mind is always good and his weight's good and I think he was exceptional in his work last Saturday. It was pretty misty, but he was moving beautifully, and the ground was beautiful. He is very professional and that is the secret to him. He has the same attitude as when he first started and is just so laid back, you could wake him up and he just comes alive for you and is so easy. We are going to find out one way another if he is as good a Champion Hurdler as I ever had, and the one thing they all had in common is their ability to jump a hurdle. He as fast as you have seen a horse jump a hurdle and he is as good at that as See You Then who came from the dark ages. Buveur D’Air and Epatante, they were all electric over their hurdles and Constitution Hill is just so fast and low and deadly accurate. He has to be accurate and going to the last at Cheltenham 12 months ago not many horses would not have survived that error, but he was such a fresh horse and wasn’t remotely tired and halfway through you could see him put himself right. He is the ultimate professional and you can do anything with him, if they want to go fast fine and if they go very slow then we might go on. You don’t need pacemakers for him or anything for him and if I gallop him, he can gallop on his own, he doesn’t need others. We had to give him three weeks off, but his scope was only two out of 10 but you can’t ignore it and think we might get away with it but if you start doing that you start playing with fire. There is an element of pressure, and you feel nervous, but responsibility comes into it and he is the Special One at the moment and long may it last, all good things come to an end and Altior won 19 races before his run came to an end. We have beaten State Man once and let’s hope we can do it again.

Form profile

Winner of four of his 6 starts and currently rated 132 over hurdles. Finished a respectable fourth, beaten eight and a half lengths, to Iberico Lord in the Grade 3 Betfair Handicap Hurdle at Newbury (2m 1/2f) this month off his current mark.

Trainer says

I would love to go for the Coral Cup with him, but he is not going to get in. He ran a great race at Newbury, and I was looking forward to the Coral Cup.

Form profile

Winner of four of his 18 starts and currently rated 146 over hurdles. Placed in all four starts this term and third, beaten 11 lengths, to stablemate Constitution Hill in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton (2m) on Boxing Day. Again third, beaten 10 ½ lengths, to Lossiemouth in the Grade 2 Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham (2m 1f) in January.

Trainer says

He went up 4lb for his run against Lossiemouth and poor old First Street looks high enough anyway, but he will go for one of the handicaps. We have been running around all winter with him chasing prize money which he has done pretty well, but he keeps on going up in the handicap for doing it. He wants to go another half a mile and he does get into the Coral.

Form profile

Winner of four of his 14 starts and currently rated 135 over hurdles. Winner of his first two starts over hurdles this year which included a two-length success from Judicial Law in a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham (3m) in October off a mark of 129.

Trainer says

He will be one of four I run in the Pertemps Final. He won at the course in October and is on schedule to go back there.

Form profile

Winner of four of his 8 starts and currently rated 143 over hurdles. Progressive hurdler who returned to winning form with a two and a quarter length victory from L’eau Du Sud in the Grade 3 Betfair Hurdle at Newbury (2m 1/2f) this month off a mark of 134.

Trainer says

I wouldn’t say he is a step ahead, but he has won two very good handicaps. He looks really, really well, and he would be going for the County.

Form profile

Winner of five of his 9 starts and currently rated 134 over hurdles. Winner of his first two starts this season including a two and a quarter length victory from Donnacha in a novices’handicap hurdle at Cheltenham (2m 1/2f) in November off a mark of 121. Finished third, beaten six and a quarter lengths, to Jay Jay Reilly on his latest outing in the Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle at Kempton (2m 5f) in January off his current mark.

Trainer says

Impose Toi is another lurking in the County, and he could come into it - there is a whole lot of them.

Form profile

Winner of his three starts over hurdles and currently rated 132 over hurdles. Made an impressive winning debut at Newbury (2m 1/2f) in December when beating King William Rufus three and a quarter lengths and followed in similar fashion when accounting for Secret Squirrel by a length and three quarters on his return to that course and distance later that month. Not as impressive but still did the job when beating Lump Sum a length and a quarter in the Grade 2 Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle at Doncaster (2m 1/2f) in January.

Trainer says

Jeriko will stay at two miles, and he has been great since Doncaster. He is good and I think the two-miler is going to be the hot one.

Form profile

Winner of two of his 3 starts and currently rated 138. Off the mark over hurdles with a nose success from Masaccio in a novices’ hurdle at Newbury (2m 4 1/2f) in December and stepped up on that effort when scoring by six lengths from Titan Discovery in a novices’ handicap hurdle at Sandown (2m 4f) this month off a mark of 124.

Trainer says

Jingko Blue won at Sandown will probably be kept to two and a half.

Form profile

Winner of 12 of his 15 starts and currently rated 170 over fences. Winner of two of his three races this term, beating Edwardstone nine and a half lengths in the Grade 2 Shloer Chase at Cheltenham (2m) in November and following up with a two and three quarter length victory from the same horse in the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown (1m 7 1/2f) in December. Didn’t jump with the same fluency and almost put paid to any chance when making a bad mistake four out in the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase run at Cheltenham (2m 1/2f) in January when eventually finishing runner-up, beaten a neck, to Elixir De Nutz.

Trainer says

He schooled this morning - AP was here - and he schooled very good. We haven’t done anything different since Cheltenham and he schooled over ten fences which is more than he will do in the Champion Chase. He won the Shloer and that proves he goes around Cheltenham. They are going to go some gallop and that suits him, he wants to be going forward, forward, forward. It looks like Edwardstone is coming back and he won well at Newbury and could make the running, but we could also if we had to. The challenge of him in a way is that he is not straightforward and the thing that cost him at Cheltenham was coming to the last. If he could get more propulsion going to the last that would have been game over, he just landed in a bit of heap and the other horse got away from him again. We will see how it goes but he could eventually go over two and a half miles. We were in tip top shape going to Ascot to take on El Fabiolo and he is the one horse that when you have got that clock wound up, a week is a long time to persuade him to relax and the spring would have bust. To him, something like him a week does matter and Jonbon is very different to everything else.

Form profile

Winner of five of her 9 starts and currently rated 140 over hurdles. Returned to winning form when beating Impose Toi a neck in the Grade 3 Betfair Exchange Trophy Handicap Hurdle at Ascot (1m 7 1/2f) in December off a mark of 136.

Trainer says

It sounds like Luccia is going to run in the Champion Hurdle. He owner Sandy is a real enthusiast and has been in the game for years. She is a home bred and he is very keen to run her. The ratings tell you it’s not a great idea, but there is a lot of prize money and if that is his wish then it will be my command.

Form profile

Winner of one of his 5 starts and currently rated 137 over hurdles. Off the mark over hurdles at Doncaster (2m 3 1/2f) in December when beating El Granjero 13 lengths and has shown better form in defeat since. Finished runner-up, beaten only half a length by Gidleigh Park in the Grade 2 Classic Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham (2m 4 1/2f) in January.

Trainer says

We haven’t really sorted the novices out but he, like Jingko Blue, he could be kept to two and a half and I wouldn’t rule out running him in the Martin Pipe.

Form profile

Winner of nine of her 18 starts and currently rated 150 over hurdles. Runner-up, beaten seven lengths, to Bob Olinger in the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham (2m 4 1/2f) on New Year’s Day and retuned to winning form in a Grade 2 Mares’ Hurdle at Doncaster (3m 1/2f) later that month when beating You Wear It Well a length and a half.

Trainer says

She is in very good form, and I couldn’t be more pleased with her. She goes for the Mares’ Hurdle. Obviously, Lossiemouth is in the way, but she has to go it is the sensible race.

Form profile

Winner of four of his 24 starts and currently rated 140 over hurdles. Has been placed in his last three runs and third, beaten three and a half lengths, to Shallow River on his latest run in a handicap hurdle at Exeter (2m 7f) this month off his current mark.

Trainer says

He has finished third in the last two runnings of the Pertemps and is a 12-year-old now but that is where he will go.

Form profile

Winner of four of his 12 starts and currently rated 140 over hurdles. Runner-up, beaten a length and a half, to Iroko in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham (2m 4 1/2f) last March off a mark of 139. Has cut little ice in two runs this season and finished eighth, beaten 18 ½ lengths, to Geronimo in a handicap hurdle at Doncaster (2m 3 1/2f) in January off a mark of 141.

Trainer says

He would be in the Coral Cup, he finished second in the Martin Pipe last year. He schooled this morning and is in good form. It would probably be helped by spring ground.

Form profile

Winner of both his starts and currently rated 134 over hurdles. Heavily odds-on when scoring by seven lengths from All The Glory in a novices' hurdle at Plumpton (2m 4 1/2f) in November and followed up with a length and a quarter victory from Destroytheevidence in the Grade 2 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham (3m) in December.

Trainer says

He could go for the Albert Bartlett. He had a dirty scope and was wrong over Christmas. He schooled this morning and was very good and is in very good form. He was a bit sharper than he was before Christmas and it appears to have done him the world of good.

Form profile

Winner of 14 of his 20 starts and currently rated 173 over fences. Refused to race on his reappearance in a Grade 2 Chase at Ascot in November and was in front when unseating his rider after two out in the Grade 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton (3m) on Boxing Day. Returned to winning form with a four and a half length success from Hitman in the Grade 2 Denman Chase at Newbury (2m 7 1/2f) this month.

Trainer says

I think the Gold Cup is open enough to be in it and Shishkin deserves to be in it. He would have been first or second in the King George and I am confident he would have won but it was still a hell of a performance for his first run of the year. He did that nicely at Newbury and we come into Cheltenham on the right stride. If you go back to the King George, good old Frodon was bashing away out front and he goes a good gallop, but Nico saw fit, quite rightly to go push it along the back straight. He was in pretty good command all the way from there and had beaten the others. He came out of Newbury really really well and is as good as I have ever seen him. It looked like he needed all of three miles at Aintree last year and when he got to Ahoy Senor he was gone, and he stayed on very strongly at Newbury so the Gold trip should be ok.

Form profile

Winner of his 3 starts over hurdles and currently rated 145. Scored by 14 lengths from Royal Way on his stable debut in a Juvenile Hurdle at Kempton (2m) in December and confirmed the impression of that success when slamming Burdett Road 10 lengths in the Grade 2 JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham (2m 1f) in January.

Trainer says

He has only had three races in his life and is a real professional. He is a lovely big horse and we always thought he was very good, but I didn’t want to get too carried away before we actually got to see it. He is a very talented horse, and I wasn’t surprised there was so much improvement from Kempton as he didn’t jump very well and I think most of that was babyishness. He got very goofy on the run from the second last and normally you would expect these French horses to do it in their sleep. He was untidy at Kempton, and we did quite a bit between then and Cheltenham.

Form profile

Winner of four of her 7 starts and currently rated 138 over hurdles. Having her first run since a wind operation when runner-up, beaten two and a half lengths, to Ashroe Diamond in a Grade 2 Mares’ contest at Doncaster (2m 4 1/2f) in January.

Trainer says

She might go for the Morebattle. I want to see what the ground is like at Kelso and when she has won that she will have to go for the Mares’ anyway! She is well-handicapped but she doesn’t need to run in a handicap. We never found out what went wrong in the Gerry Feilden as she was going to hack up going to the second last and then was pulled up. She finished very strongly at Doncaster and that was very encouraging. If Kelso was very soft, then we could think of the County Hurdles.

Form profile

Winner of two of his 9 starts and currently rated 139 over fences. Finished runner-up, beaten a neck, to Henry’s Friend on his reappearance in a novices’ handicap chase at Newbury (2m 6 1/2f) in December off a mark of 138.

Trainer says

He goes to Chepstow on Saturday and needs to finish third in the Pertemps Qualifier to get in the Final. I would like Walking In Air for the Pertemps if we could get in.