Nicky Henderson’s Stable Tour for the 2022 Cheltenham Festival

Nicky Henderson has been through his main contenders for the 2022 Cheltenham Festival and he looks to have a strong hand to challenge the Irish with. Shishkin is favourite for the Champion Chase but some of his other heavyweights including Champ, Jonbon and Constitution Hill.

Henderson has been talking to the Racing Post about his main contenders for the four days at Prestbury Park and we have summarised the findings below, as well as giving you the current odds for the horses in question.

Jonbon looks to be one of the most exciting younger horses around and he will look to prove himself in the first race of the Cheltenham Festival, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Constitution Hill is also set to line up in that race and Henderson has said “they’ll almost certainly play here”. He will be going head to head with Willie Mullins, who is set to have a strong hand with Dysart Dynamo and Sir Gerhard.

 

Champ

“He was fantastic at Ascot in the Long Walk, but fair play to Emma Lavelle and her team for getting Paisley Park back in the Cleeve. I’m not making excuses, but I don’t think Champ was as sharp at Cheltenham as he was at Ascot. We’ll try again in the rematch, and he’s in good form and has come out of Cheltenham well. That was a trial and he didn’t travel with the zest he had when he tanked through the Long Walk and also jumped more fluently. Our job is to get him better and, if we can’t, I’m sure everybody would love to see Paisley Park win again.”

Stayer’s Hurdle odds – 6/1 with bet365.

 

Chantry House

“The King George just didn’t happen for him. Nico [de Boinville], AP [McCoy] and I talked about cheekpieces to keep him sharp over the first mile, knowing they were going to go fast, and they did. He hadn’t been in a grown-up chase like that as he ran in smaller-field novices last season and then had a solo spin at Sandown in November. Kempton was a shock for him, a big shock, but he was so well I thought he didn’t need the cheekpieces. He subsequently schooled in them and we concluded they definitely helped. We pondered whether to keep them up our sleeve for the Gold Cup, but I’m glad we put them on in the Cotswold Chase because he probably needed them. The race has done him an awful lot of good and he’s in a great place. He didn’t jump with his usual fluency, but I think we can – and maybe have already – sharpened that pencil.”

Cheltenham Gold Cup odds – 25/1 with bet365.

 

Constitution Hill

“He’s been a revelation. Barry Geraghty and Warren Ewing, whom he was with in Ireland, were always telling me about him, and they were right. I’ve bought a few off Barry, from Bobs Worth to Brain Power to this fella to some less salubrious characters, but they’ve done us well and this is the most extraordinary horse. When he arrived I thought he was the most bizarre animal I’d ever come across and in our early-season prep you wouldn’t have given sixpence for him; he was so laid-back.

He couldn’t lay up walking and if you put him at the front he held the whole string up. It was the same trotting and, if he was at the back, the ones at the front caught him up in no time. It was woeful and I rang Barry and said, ‘What in the world is this? He’s horizontal, I can’t wake him up’. Barry had sent me a picture of his daughter Orla, who was nine at the time, riding him at home and he was that sort of horse, but things changed dramatically when we worked him. He was sitting behind horses in his first bit of work and suddenly disappeared over the horizon. ‘Good Lord,’ I thought, even if they weren’t stars of the show he was with. We kept doing this and it kept getting more and more amazing. I didn’t expect him to be as good as he was at Sandown first time and you wouldn’t normally go to the Tolworth after one run, but it made no difference. I never had any intention of running him again because there’s nothing to teach him. He settles, goes to sleep, jumps and then you press a button and he goes. He’s exactly what every trainer wants, a horse who eats, sleeps, doesn’t cause chaos and then you press a button, and push-button horses are lovely. I can’t see any issue with a sounder surface, but the Supreme will be on good to soft or softer.”

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle odds – 2/1 with bet365.

 

Epatante

“We think we’re in a completely different place to last year and she’s not far off where she was when she won the Champion two years ago, but this will be more competitive. She’s in terrific form, great shape. The two objectives were the Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdle and, albeit with a dead-heat, she won both, but I’m quite excited because she was good at Kempton – fast and quick and far too classy for them after tanking through the race. All the back-up team, the physios, are delighted, but Honeysuckle is Honeysuckle and I think she’s outstanding. I wondered if Epatante would get two and a half miles and we could move her into the Mares’ Hurdle, but I asked Nico in the winner’s enclosure at Kempton and got a categorical no.”

Champion Hurdle odds – 9/1 with bet365.

 

Jonbon

“The opposite to Constitution Hill, who was an unknown, Jonbon showed us what he was made of last spring after he came from the sale at Yorton and won his bumper. He’s been lovely and has thrived on being in training. I’m very pleased with him and he looks magnificent. He’s unbeaten, jumps, has a turn of foot and is rock-solid. Didn’t he blow everyone away at Haydock last time? He didn’t do anything wrong for me on horrible ground. I was pleased with him; he quickened up twice and if they’d gone another furlong he’d have won by 20 lengths, and if they’d gone another two furlongs he’d have won by 40 lengths. He’ll be fine at Cheltenham and there isn’t much between him and Constitution Hill, otherwise you’d split them up.”

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle odds – 5/1 with Coral.

 

Mister Fisher

“A horse I’ve always had plenty of time for, he won decisively in a Grade 2 at Kempton in January and heads for the Ascot Chase on Saturday and then hopefully we’ll see about the Ryanair, although he’s still in the Gold Cup.”

Ryanair Chase odds – 14/1 with William Hill.

 

Shishkin

“He’s come out of Ascot’s Clarence House Chase superbly and looks fantastic. I’m thrilled with him and he won’t do anything dramatic just yet. He can freshen up for a bit as the Clarence House was a hard race at a hard pace, but we knew it was going to be. Kim Bailey had a nice compliment/admission when he said First Flow possibly ran better than when he won it last year, and he was beaten nearly 20 lengths. It shows how high the standard was and the rematch with Energumene will be tight. If I had a choice I’d rather go left-handed than right with Shishkin, who has done it all before at Cheltenham, over hurdles and fences, but Willie’s not going to be frightened off, that’s for sure. He’s going to be double-handed with Chacun Pour Soi, who impressed me at Leopardstown this month. It hasn’t worked twice for him in England, but that could be anything, a coincidence, and then there’s a length between Shishkin and Energumene. Willie said he didn’t know how he was going to beat us, but I don’t see it like that. I’m not assuming because we beat Energumene a length at Ascot we’re going to beat him a length at Cheltenham – racing doesn’t work as simply as that. It was very close and he had us in trouble, but if we’re in the same fighting-fit mode Shishkin will take some beating, although he wouldn’t be odds-on in my book because he’s got a mega test on his hands. One mistake is all it takes, although I think people made a mountain out of a molehill when he pecked at Ascot. The great thing about that finish was it hasn’t ruined the Champion Chase. It went our way, but let’s look forward to one of the clashes of the festival, and that includes with Chacun too.”

Queen Mother Champion Chase Odds – 8/11 with Betfred.

 

Walking On Air

“He won convincingly at Newbury last month and took the race well, but it just took him time to sort his body out and he was a bit like that in the autumn, which hasn’t made life easy. He’s extremely talented and I’d like to give him another run before the festival, but we’ll see whether there’s time or not. That said, he was very professional at Newbury and the one thing he’ll do is keep galloping.”

Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle odds – 10/1 with bet365.

 

Marie’s Rock

“I was thrilled to see Marie’s Rock win at Warwick and it was great to have the Middleham Park team at Seven Barrows on Sunday. We’ve discussed it and she’ll hopefully go for the Mares’ Hurdle, where she’ll have claims – she’s smart. I was getting her ready for the mares’ novice hurdle at the festival two years ago and I really fancied her. She lost her form last season, but that was a good performance at the weekend and she’s right back on track.”

Mares’ Hurdle odds – 16/1 with bet365.

 

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