Sprinter Sacre, the highest-rated steeplechaser in training, remains on course to run in the Grade One Clarence House Chase at Ascot on 17 January after completing a racecourse gallop and schooling session at Newbury on Monday morning. The brilliant two-miler’s first appearance on a track since being pulled up with an irregular heartbeat on 27 December last year was not without incident as he took off too early when jumping the second of five schooling fences and almost landed on top of the obstacle.
A less flamboyant jumper than him could easily have suffered a fall at the fence, an open ditch, but the eight-year-old quickly recovered and cleared the next three obstacles with typical ease before quickening away from his galloping partner, the 138-rated chaser Tanks For That, halfway down Newbury’s home straight.
Sprinter Sacre was rated 188, the second-highest mark in the history of the Anglo-Irish Jumps Classification, at the end of the 2012-13 season, when he was unbeaten in five starts, all at Grade One level. His perfect 10-from-10 record over fences was surrendered on his next outing, however, when he was pulled up in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton, and he had already bypassed two possible engagements for a return to action this season prior to Monday’s public exercise.
Barry Geraghty, Sprinter Sacre’s jockey, said that the chaser’s mistimed jump on Monday was a sign he is “full of himself”.
Geraghty said: “You don’t want to be looking for a big one at the second fence, but he took it on and he pinged it. He landed on it a little bit but that’s a good sign, he was full of himself and he jumped the next three brilliantly.
“He’ll improve for it, but the ground is soft and he’ll have a couple more bits [of work] before Ascot but he’s on the way. You can never take anything for granted when he’s been through what he’s been through, but you couldn’t have asked for him to do any more or show any better signs than he did today. Hopefully it will stay that way for years.”
Nicky Henderson, Sprinter Sacre’s trainer, confirmed the Clarence House Chase [formerly the Victor Chandler Chase] remains the next target for his stable star. “We wouldn’t have come here if we weren’t quite confident about what we were doing,” he said. “It was very much part of the long-term plan.
“He’s had a nice spin. Even cantering down he was very full of himself. Celia Marr [the equine heart specialist overseeing Sprinter Sacre’s treatment] said the experience he had at Kempton would have been a very bad one, and the main thing was to make sure he had confidence in himself. If there was a [mental] scar, he’s got through it and he can let himself down and do what he’s good at.
“Ascot on 17 January is the plan as long as the ground is reasonably good. If Ascot could be good-to-soft or good, that would be perfect. He had a good blow there, but with 20 days to go, that should be just about right.”
Sprinter Sacre is the 7-2 favourite to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham on 11 March, ahead of Sire De Grugy, last year’s winner of the race, at 5-1.
