THEN AND NOW.

​Nicky Henderson could be in for a magnificent Cheltenham Festival. At the time of writing he has the favourites for the Champion Hurdle, the Champion 2-mile Chase and the Gold Cup. Though it must really chafe his onions that his abilities as a trainer do not run to 3-mile hurdlers, with the best he can come up with being L’ami Serge, a generally available 12/1 shot. And for good measure he has the ante-post favourites for the Ultima Handicap Chase and more pertinently the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual. A bumper festival is no doubt in the offing for the Masterful master of Seven Barrows.
Henderson learnt his trade at the feet of Fred Winter and if the Master of Uplands were around today he would offer words of caution similar to: remember 1974, my boy, and entertain no thoughts of celebration until fate has dealt its last card.
In 1974 Fred Winter went to the Cheltenham Festival with the favourites for the Champion Hurdle, the Champion 2-mile Chase, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Totalisator Champion Novice Chase, now the R.S.A. He left Cheltenham with only one winner, Killiney winning the latter race, though in a few weeks, due to a fall at Ascot, everyone’s idea of a future Gold Cup winner would be dead, causing the implacable Winter to shed a tear in public.
Interesting Fact: the opening race on the first day of the Festival was the Aldsworth Hurdle. Oh if it were not the case now. The winner of the Supreme is only ever rarely ‘supreme’.
Winter’s tale of woe began in the Champion 2-mile Chase with Crisp, the 8/15 favourite, only to be beaten into third by Inkslinger. 3 weeks later Crisp was second again, only this time it was in the Grand National, putting up what I consider the greatest performance to be seen on a British racecourse, failing by a nose trying to achieve the impossible.
Winter’s luck turned in the Totalisator Champion Novice Chase, though Killiney’s victory, proof positive he was a leading Gold Cup horse, was not gained without the scare of him hitting the third last hard and then, and here’s the coincidence, hanging right all the way to the line.
The racing press considered Bula a certainty to win his third Champion Hurdle, only to finish a disappointing fifth of eight. ‘Lacked his usual sparkle,’ Paul Kelleway commented. ‘Needs further these days,’ was Fred’s opinion.
But he still had Pendil to look forward to in the Gold Cup, only having the two from ‘over the wall’ to worry about. Unfortunately one of the two, The Dikler, got up to win by a nose, with Richard Pitman, as always his harshest critic, blaming himself for not delaying his run a bit longer.
Buveur D’Air is, of course, the banker of the meeting, with the aging Faugheen the only possible danger. He is the Bula of the Henderson ranks. One just hopes for Henderson’s sake that he does not lose his sparkle during the race. After missing the Festival last year Barry Gerraghty deserves the opportunity to sparkle himself.
Altior will never run in a Grand National, of course. Such deeds of derring-do as 2-mile chasers running in Grand Nationals are as likely nowadays as a trainer electing to put up Lady Godiva on a Cheltenham favourite when Richard Johnson was available simply to appease their stable sponsor. Altior is, though, as great a certainty to win the Champion 2-mile Chase as the price of the Racing Post rising by 10p on the Monday of the Festival. What’s to beat him? Oh yes, what’s the name of the half-forgotten Irish flying machine with the leap of a gazelle? 9/2 in places, Douvan. 9/2. The horse that gets Ruby Walsh out of bed every morning. Remember. But this is the question you must ponder: is Willie Mullins capable of preparing a horse to win a championship race first time out? Forget Min. Min will only win if Altior and Douvan both fall down the well.
Douvan is Irish, as was Inkslinger. Crisp was 8/15 favourite. Altior is currently, in places, 8/13.
So without a contender for the R.S.A., the race that brought some cheer for Fred Winter, Henderson might be relying on the enigmatic but handsome Might Bite to do the business in the Gold Cup. Pendil was not handsome. He was dour, a relentless winning machine. I doubt if he races until he is as old as Cue Card that Might Bite will ever be described as dour. In some respect it is Might Bite versus the Irish, with the only British contenders worth a mention in the ante-post markets being Native River and Definitly Red, which is odd when you remember how close both Double Shuffle and Tea For Two were to Might Bite in the King George and he certainly wasn’t going away from them.
Nicky Henderson knows in his heart that all four cannot win. He’ll be frustrated but relieved if one wins, with a second or third winner allowing him unbridled joy and tears. Mainly, though, as we all would echo, he will wish all four to return to Seven Barrows uninjured and in good health. Fate was cruel to both Killiney and Bula, while it was plain malicious to Crisp. I will have to research what fate had in store for Pendil.