The most powerful stables in British jumping carved up the card here on Saturday, but, while Paul Nicholls left with a Grade One double, Nicky Henderson’s three winners were overshadowed by the loss of Oscar Whisky, one of the most talented and popular horses in his yard.
Oscar Whisky, a Grade One winner over both hurdles and fences, emerged as a contender for the Tingle Creek Chase, Saturday’s feature race, only when Henderson decided that Sprinter Sacre, the 2013 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner, needed more time before making his seasonal debut. Barry Geraghty’s mount was put down after suffering a leg injury in a fall at the sixth fence, a bitter postscript to a fine race which was eventually won by Nicholls’s Dodging Bullets, with the veteran Somersby in second place.
Dodging Bullets was a ninth winner in the Grade One race for the Nicholls stable, but a relative outsider at 9-1 as the punters preferred the chances of Balder Succes and God’s Own. Neither jumped fluently, however, while Dodging Bullets’ fencing stood up well to Sandown’s test of speed and accuracy, and he then stayed on strongly for Sam Twiston-Davies to win by two and a half lengths.
“He’s always been a hard horse to train and we’ve probably been a bit kind to him,” Nicholls said. “Since his last run, we’ve been very hard on him and I thought today was the best he’s ever looked. He was as fit as he could ever be.
“It’s different when you’re dealing with horses like [previous Tingle Creek winners] Kauto Star and Master Minded, they can win half-fit, but horses like him have to be at their very, very best. Today he was, and he galloped all the way to the line.”
The past two winners of the Tingle Creek, Sprinter Sacre and Sire De Grugy, have gone on to win the Champion Chase at Cheltenham the following March and Dodging Bullets can be backed at around 12-1 to follow suit.
“The Champion Chase will be our aim now because he gets stronger and better,” Nicholls said. “We’re learning how to train him now, and if we can get him at his best at Cheltenham, he’ll definitely be there with a chance.”
Nicholls had earlier taken the Grade One Henry VIII Chase with Vibrato Valtat, the outsider of his two runners in the four-strong field.
“He’s got a heap of ability but he wasn’t finishing his races last year because of his breathing,” Nicholls said. “He had a breathing op in the summer and he’s a very good horse. This is a speed track and is suited him quite well.
“I think Irish Saint [the 4-5 favourite, also trained by Nicholls, who finished third] might want further, but Vibrato is probably a true two-miler who can jump and has a turn of foot. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s an Arkle [Trophy] type.”
Henderson’s treble, at total odds of 209-1, opened with the 14-1 success of Caracci Apache in the two-mile novice hurdle, while Cup Final (6-4) and Snake Eyes (3-1) were both winners for Tony McCoy in the colours of JP McManus. Snake Eyes made ground with impressive ease between the final two flights to move into contention and is now a leading contender for the Ladbroke Hurdle at Ascot later this month.
