There was something missing as Nicky Henderson talked through his squad for the Cheltenham Festival at his yard . Sprinter Sacre, the stable star, was on parade along with his three-strong team for the Triumph Hurdle while Bobs Worth, the 2013 Gold Cup winner, looked on from his box, but the sense of building tension and pressure that has characterised these events in recent seasons was entirely absent. Henderson, suddenly, seems as relaxed as his horses.
Perhaps it is because some of the focus has shifted to the huge team of runners – and probable favourites – which Willie Mullins, Ireland’s champion trainer, is preparing to send to the West Country. In recent seasons Henderson has generally been a short price to end the Festival as the leading trainer, having set a record by winning seven of the 27 races in 2012. This year, though, Henderson is as big as 8‑1 to prevail with a challenge that is strong on seniors and freshers but noticeably light on sophomores.
Sprinter Sacre is the joint-favourite to reclaim the Queen Mother Champion Chase he won so brilliantly in 2013 while Ma Filleule is a live contender for the Ryanair Chase and Bobs Worth, a three-time winner at the Festival already, is due to line up for the Gold Cup. Yet strangely Josses Hill in the Arkle Trophy is likely to be Henderson’s only runner in one of the Festival’s three championship events for novice chasers.
He could also be without a contender in the Neptune Novice Hurdle, since the highly-promising Kilcrea Vale is only a possible – and increasingly unlikely - runner at this stage. Elsewhere in the meeting’s novice hurdles, though, he has three serious contenders for the Triumph, including the 5-2 favourite Peace And Co, and possibly three more, led by the excellent prospect Vyta Du Roc, in the Albert Bartlett. Henderson also trains L’Ami Serge, the second-favourite for the Supreme Novice Hurdle.
“When we had Bobs Worth, Sprinter Sacre and [the 2013 Arkle winner] Simonsig, it was a heck of an A team,” Henderson said. “You’ve still got Sprinter and Bobs Worth and I think Ma Filleule needs putting in the mix. She comes into the A team, so there are some good older ones, but I think what we’re looking forward to as much as anything are the younger ones, because they’re next year’s as well.
“The novice hurdlers are very strong all the way through, so that’s a stack of novice chasers for next year, which we’ve slightly been missing this year.”
Sprinter Sacre, 3-1 for the Queen Mother Champion Chase, will be the key Henderson-trained runner for many. He has raced only once since being pulled up with an irregular heartbeat at Kempton on 26 December 2013, finishing second to Dodging Bullets in a Grade One event at Ascot in January. The eight-year-old put up one of the finest performances in Festival history in the 2013 Champion Chase and, if Henderson has him back to his brilliant best, or anything close to it, his supporters will be backing an odds-on chance at decent odds-against.
“We’re as good as we’ve been for a very long time,” Henderson said. “We’ve had our run, he’s done plenty of work since and he doesn’t even need to go to a racecourse [to gallop]. He’s spot-on.
“I’m not saying he’s back to what he was. When he was that, he was absolutely, ridiculously unbeatable. I’m not saying we’re totally unbeatable … but he’s in seriously good shape.
“He’s done everything that we’ve even remotely asked him to do.
“He’s better than anything else [in the stable]. We’re just training him to try to get to one particular race. It’s what we all wanted last year and it didn’t happen, but it looks now with a bit of luck that they’re all going to get there, so it will be a great race, a hell of a clash. They’ve got a crown that we want back and I think we’ve got a good chance.”
Peace And Co towered over Hargam and Top Notch, Henderson’s other candidates for the Triumph, when they stood alongside each other for the photographers. He is a horse for the future as well as the present, but all three stand a realistic chance in a race Henderson has already won a record five times. L’Ami Serge, meanwhile, will attempt to get Henderson off to a flying start in the opening event of the Festival, the Supreme Novice Hurdle, for which Mullins’s Douvan is the strong favourite.
“There’s no point worrying about what Willie’s doing and what he’s got,” Henderson said. “Sure, we’re going to read about it, but there’s nothing I can do. I can’t stick a picture of Douvan in L’Ami Serge’s box and tell him to practise looking at it from in front or behind because it’s not going to make him go any faster.
“We’ve still got a job to do and it’s still going to test us. If Willie’s got more to worry about than we have, we’ve still got plenty to dream about. I think [our team is] strong enough. There’s something for most races and a lot of chances.”
