- This topic has 130 replies, 38 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by
.
- Posts
Greenasgrass: “Not saying that he hasn’t faffed and talked up entries that disappear with other horses before, but at least he is sending good horses to run against each other in the John Durkan.”
________________________________Looking at his preview comments he’s saying he had to as there were no available races for them at this time.
Just seen the heated interview between Lydia and Nicky on Racing TV regarding the withdrawal of Altior. Nicky was as angry as i’ve seen him when repeating that horse welfare comes before anything else. He is, of course, absolutely right and i doubt anyone would argue with that. The wider point is that Cheltenham is clearly seen by most trainers as the be all and end all of the jumps season. Personally I can’t see how that is healthy for National Hunt racing. Small field graded races are now the norm between October and February. The big horses, especially in England, tend to avoid each other before March.
It’s 3 months until the festival yet Altior didn’t run yesterday with Cheltenham the primary reason, rather than welfare per se. He’d have run if it was the Champion Chase yesterday.
Henderson’s conduct was ridiculous and disgraceful yesterday. At least he did not say to Lydia Hislop “How many winners have you trained” but he came close.
Seeing this wealthy, successful trainer bleating was sickening. Maybe he ought to reflect that lots of trainers have just a few bad horses and are worrying about when their owners are going to pay them and cannot afford to wrap their horses up in cotton wool.
Is there a track in the country that suits Santini? Maybe Henderson would prefer it if the pesky opposition stayed at home and let his horses have a nice saunter round. Cannot put them under any stress before Cheltenham!
This all stems from him knowing he screwed up by running Altior in the wrong race at Ascot. Yet he tries to shift the blame onto the public, saying he would have been “lynched” if he had taken him out.
I do not believe he would. I think most people would have understood that running over a longer distance on deep ground against a higher rated rival who was proven over course and distance was not a good place to start. It is Henderson’s own fault and it looks like he has been beating himself up about it ever since.
What the public do not accept is being taken for fools. There was nothing wrong with the ground yesterday, as the times recorded by Politologue and Allmankind proved. Even the beaten horses were not finishing legless.
And to cap it all, Henderson managed to upset an important sponsor at a time when racing needs all the financial help it can get.
Henderson ought to apologise to Betfair, Sandown and the race going public.
The biggest problem i got with this is not making the public aware on the Friday that he had ground concerns. Apologies if this has been mentioned already but Friday afternoon, presumably after racing, he said in his Unibet Blog the following.
“Lots of you saw him at Newbury the other day where he worked with Epatante and that will have really sharpened him up nicely. As you all know, this race has been the plan from the very beginning and everything has gone without hiccup in the lead up to it. He schooled last week and again on Thursday morning and was his usual brilliant self so I am extremely happy with him coming into this. It does looks a decent renewal but we have already beaten Politologue plenty of times and he’s managed to do it in soft ground too, albeit quite a while ago, and Altior is now a year older so obviously has the potential to be vulnerable to an improving horse, but I’m not sure there’s really anything like that lurking in the field and I see no reason why we should worry.”
At 9pm Friday he announced he was a non runner. He shouldve said in this piece that he was worried about the ground and would speak to the owners.
I read trainers blogs a fair bet and think trainers should be clear regarding the horse’s participation at least. Henderson cocked it up for himself.
I think Mr Henderson should be a bit more open with followers of the sport. However I don’t understand some of the stick that he is getting. In my view his primary duty is to the owners , and the horse himself , not punters. I cannot see what there is to gain from bottoming the horse at this time of year , on ground that he claims is unsuitable. It’s not as if Altior owes anybody anything. If I was the owner I think that I would be rather grateful to him.
Not often I’ll say this, but Chapman was spot-on talking about the Altior decision just now.
It’s been said before and quite rightly it’ll be said again. It’s corrupt that trainers and jockeys are paid by bookmakers for information. The BHA are not fit for purpose.
What a liar!!!!! Told Lydia on Saturday that he’ll be rerouted to Taunton on Thursday in the re-scheduled Peterborough Chase. Now, he’ll wait until Christmas……
The real truth is that Altior isn’t fit enough. He is as fit as the two mugshots beaten at 4/7 and 2/11 last Saturday.
Thanks mate, but why was Nicky talking about Taunton and why not take him to Cheltenham now?
He said he’d go to Taunton because its a flat track
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Hey Mike,
This is what I was saying on the Tingle Creek post and youve hit the nail on the head. I dont object to the fact he withdrew Altior, its the fact he banged on all week what good form Altior was in and didnt reference the ground being a concern once (even with his horses running on Friday). Then, as you say, shocks us all by withdrawing him at 9pm the night before. Walk the track first and then make a decision. At least it seems a bit more legitimate then. Just disappointing and very misleading to punters. Anyway as i said on the other chat, just gonna draw a line under it now.
Just read that Timeform considered the ground at sandown on Saturday to be good to soft.
Henderson’s claim the ground was heavy is looking increasingly ridiculous.
Cork, if you look at the number of runners he’s having at the moment, the way they have underperformed at prohibitive odds and the kind of excuses he’s trying to find, one has to think that:
a) the stable has been hit be a virus
and
b) the struggle to get Altior fit to contest just 2 races a season is a huge one.
If there would be no Festival next year, I’m quite sure he’d campaign him differently.
The claim that the ground was heavy on Saturday is a rather ridiculous one.Ruby,
Or maybe it’s c) no Corky any more.
This is a fascinating read:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/racing/arid-30930859.html
Thanks for sharing AP. A great article about a fantastic head lad, completely forgot that he is already 77. But you could be spot on….
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.