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Those more cynical people out there might say there is a strange sort of karma with this breaking news – I do feel for the horse and hope it is something that will clear up quickly but being it is the second ‘dirty scope’ he has suffered following on from the one that stopped him from recently running in the Bula, it would have to be a concern as to whether he had actually fully recovered from the first episode and given that, could this second episode be something he could recover fully from in time for Cheltenham.
If he does show up they do now have a plausible reason if he were to get beat in that the race obviously came too soon for him to perform at his best but if he were to still go on and win you can imagine the hyperbole the media will start spewing about him now being the GOAT hurdler.
Hate to say it but given how his current ‘campaign’ has panned out so far this season, it really wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t actually see him again on track until the Fighting Fifth next season (assuming that race goes ahead of course).
Note: Six of Henderson’s last eight runners have been pulled up. He has saddled one winner from 13 runners in the past fortnight.
Reminds me of the devastation when Faugheen was withdrawn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkNy6oiE92Q
Maybe wishful thinking on my part but, if CH misses the CH, I think he might go chasing next season after all.
Why?
It’s not NH’s fault, but this demonstrates there are things outside his control and the wrap-in-cotton-wool/stay-hurdling strategy will have resulted in a largely-wasted season.
The aging owner was keen on a crack at the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Henderson might find it harder to resist that as this illustrates “the best laid plans of mice and men….”
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Becoming a soap opera. He will run and win but by a small margin with Henderson blaming his mucus what done him. Tired of the whole drama.
A wag on the Betfair Forum wrote: “Someone on twitter said it wasn’t a dirty scope. The poor horse just got a fright when he saw a racecourse.”
ID – I think the chasing option has been put to bed……god I really hope it has as the last thing we need is for that whole sorry saga to be put on rinse and repeat again.
The whole circus that follows this horse around (most of it self inflicted by his connections) really is overshadowing what should be the racing public as a whole celebrating a very special racehorse.
It is all getting rather tiresome and is now making me start to resent (or roll my eyes) every time the horse himself gets mentioned (through absolutely no fault of his own) because it is invariable not about his performances on the racecourse but more about the continuing drama around him.
CAS – that Betfair quote made me chuckle out loud for sure.
It was evident the yard has a bad virus even before this news broke.
6 of Hendo’s last 8 runners all pulled up, with only two of those at double figure odds… And the Racing Post “rtf” ran to form figure currently as low as 23%.Value Is EverythingI’m no equine doctor, so if he’s clear by Friday is that sufficient time for Cheltenham? I don’t want to see them rush him to Cheltenham, just because it is Cheltenham. If that happened then you could throw the rubbish about “doing what’s best for the horse” out the window.
Apparently Paul Nicholls has a team there also and when they found out about CH they broke the sound barrier leaving.
The more I know the less I understand.
Worzel, I think Hendo has proven over time, particularly in recent years, that he would prefer not to race his better horses at all than risk them in any way. An unbeaten season sitting in their box is considered a successful season for him nowadays. Great trainer in his day but for me he’s no longer at the top of his game and has lost his bottle.
I cannot see him running , a tough run , up that hill if he’s lungs not right could ruin him long term. He has two more career runs in him 2024 Christmas Hurdle and a 2027 Pre Cheltenham breeze up at Kempton .
The criticism over not running CH in the FF is overblown imo.
The heavy going in the rescheduled race meant there was too much risk of not enough time to recover for the Christmas Hurdle. Not running imo understandable.Then the position of the Boxing Day Christmas Hurdle means trainers need to have a fairly quick turn around if they are to give a safe space of time leading up to the Champion. I do think CH should’ve run somewhere in late January. However, three weeks between Christmas and a Cheltenham prep’ wouldn’t have been ideal. It’s possible CH wasn’t right for whatever reason and then too late for that prep’. The first bad scope – to me – seemed an excuse not to run anywhere, but maybe I am doing the trainer a disservice.
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