No trainer could simply absorb the two blows that Nicky Henderson received last Sunday, when the outstanding chaser Simonsig suffered a fatal injury shortly after the announcement that Sprinter Sacre, surely the best horse that Henderson will ever train, had been retired. Yet all he can do now is move on and rebuild, and Henderson took a definite step forward here on Friday as Different Gravey put down a marker for the Grade One novice chases at Cheltenham in March.
Different Gravey had only three opponents to beat on the Ascot card’s 2m 2f Beginners’ Chase, and had shown himself to be significantly better than all three during a brief, six-race career over hurdles. As a result, a six-length defeat of Brother Tedd could be seen as no more than an adequate start to his chasing career, but the extra gear he found between the last two fences hinted at much better days ahead.
Brother Tedd outjumped Different Gravey at the second-last, and briefly seemed to have the upper hand. When David Bass shook the reins on Different Gravey, however, he was alongside in a few strides while leaving the distinct impression that there was much more to come if required.
The winner was cut to a top price of 16-1 for the JLT Novice Chase at the Festival, but the 14-1 available for the three-mile RSA Chase could be more attractive, given that the stable sees him as a stayer in time.
“He was neat and professional and David says that he still has plenty to learn,” Toby Lawes, Henderson’s assistant trainer, said afterwards. “So there’s plenty to come from that, but it was a fantastic start.
“We were ready to run over fences last year and he’s been schooling for two years really, so he knew his job, but it was fantastic for his first day on a big track to jump as neatly as that.
“He’ll have a big future and we’d hope to see him in all the big novice chases, and we’d hope to step him up in trip in time as well. We always suspected he’d be a three-miler but he’s not without speed, so there’s plenty of options.”
Thomas Campbell completed a double for the stable in somewhat similar style in the Olympus Introductory Hurdle, quickening abruptly between the final two flights to finish four lengths in front of Criq Rock. “He is a very tough little horse,” Lawes said. “That was only his second run over hurdles and although his jumping was good, he can still improve.”
Henderson himself was at Haydock Park, where the runners were splashing through surface water as heavy rain continued for much of the card.
Politologue, from the Paul Nicholls stable, was one horse who revelled in the conditions and he is a 25-1 chance for the RSA Chase after a polished debut over fences, while Constantine Bay completed a treble on the day for Henderson later on the card.
The ground was deteriorating throughout the afternoon, however, and Philip Hobbs’s Menorah, the booked ride of Richard Johnson in Saturday’s Betfair Chase, was scratched from the race on Friday evening. As a result, the champion jockey will switch to replace Aidan Coleman aboard Coneygree, the 2015 Gold Cup winner.
Henderson’s My Tent Or Yours, the runner-up in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, will be the biggest name on the Haydock undercard when he lines up for the £100,000 Betfair Price Rush Hurdle.
“He is all prepared and ready for tomorrow,” Lawes said on Friday. “We are just going to have to keep an eye on this ground. It looks very sloppy up there today.”
An exceptional field of entries for the Grade One Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown on Sunday has been reduced to just five runners after Willie Mullins ruled out two of the biggest names in his stable, Annie Power and Faugheen. Annie Power, last season’s Champion Hurdle winner, will miss out after failing to please her trainer in a midweek gallop, while Faugheen, the champion at Cheltenham in 2015, has a bruised foot.
“Annie worked bad during the week,” Mullins said on Friday. “I just wasn’t happy with her and I want to see how she is over the weekend. Faugheen has a foot bruise and we can’t do anything with him until that clears up. It’s bad timing, [but] hopefully it’s nothing more than that.”
Vroum Vroum Mag, the winner of the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, was also taken out of Sunday’s race by Mullins, but the trainer still has three of the five declared runners in Nichols Canyon, Sempre Medici and Simenon. The field is completed by Jer’s Girl and Ivanovich Gorbatov, last season’s Triumph Hurdle winner.
