Jump racing’s two dominant trainers traded blows here on Friday, both Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls coming away with a winner apiece. Henderson’s ability to produce classy two-mile hurdlers was shown again when L’Ami Serge beat one other finisher to become a strong candidate for the opening race at March’s Cheltenham Festival, while Nicholls’ Ptit Zig kept his unbeaten record over fences with a nine-length success in a quality novice chase.
Henderson’s Josses Hill was sent off as odds-on favourite against Ptit Zig but the Lambourn trainer has not had a good season with his chasers and was frustrated again. Josses Hill, making his fences debut, certainly looked the part but lacked fluency from halfway and tired quickly after jumping into his rival’s rear at the second-last. Since 1 September Henderson has won only three steeplechases, though his hurdlers have kept him in contention for the champion trainer’s crown.
“Bad luck he got beat but it’s a good race,” the trainer said of Josses Hill. “He’s got a bit to learn but he’ll learn a lot from that. And he will come on. We got locked away for a month with a splint and it’s just cost us time.
“A couple of them, he was very good and a couple of them he was a bit untidy but he’s got so much scope. He’s every bit as good a horse as we hoped he would be.”
Henderson’s Simonsig made his chasing debut in the same race two years ago on his way to winning the Festival’s Arkle Trophy but Josses Hill is now 16-1 for that race, having been half those odds before running here. Ptit Zig is thought more likely to go for the Festival’s JLT Chase.
“I think the Arkle track is a really sharp, easy two miles and won’t necessarily suit a horse who jumps and travels like him,” Nicholls said of the winner. “I see him, in time, staying further. He ran fifth in the Champion last season and was flat out all the way, you just think that two miles might be too sharp for him.”
Nicholls’ focus at Ascot on Saturday will be on Zarkandar, favourite for the Long Walk Hurdle, and he appears full of optimism for the horse’s chance. “I think Annie Power almost killed him in the first two runs last year and he lost a bit of enthusiasm and sparkle. This year, for whatever reason, he’s a different animal. He bounded round Auteuil the other day and he looks amazing, as you’ll see tomorrow. He just looks really happy with life and I think he’ll go really well.”
Kauto Star, the best horse Nicholls has trained and now in the care of the event rider Laura Collett, prompted considerable concern on social media this week when turning in a lacklustre, uncoordinated display of dressage at the Olympia Horse Show. Nicholls did not want to be drawn into commenting on the great horse’s current situation but it was clear that he and his staff at Ditcheat had looked on with concern and it may not be long before the trainer is moved to comment.
