Horse_amp_amp_Hound__06_February_2018
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RACING<br />
SANDOWN PARK<br />
3 <strong>February</strong><br />
Sandown Park, Surrey<br />
THE reigning ch<strong>amp</strong>ion hurdler<br />
Buveur D’Air was the highlight<br />
of a Sandown treble for Nicky<br />
Henderson on Saturday<br />
(3 <strong>February</strong>) — three winners<br />
which took the trainer to the<br />
100-winner mark for the<br />
2017/<strong>2018</strong> season.<br />
Henderson is building quite<br />
a team for Cheltenham — he will<br />
enter Ch<strong>amp</strong>ion Chase favourite<br />
Altior for a possible reappearance<br />
in the Game Spirit at Newbury on<br />
Saturday (10 <strong>February</strong>) and take<br />
a view on the ground.<br />
However, if there was any<br />
disappointment for the ch<strong>amp</strong>ion<br />
trainer about Sandown’s Betfred<br />
Contenders Hurdle it was that<br />
there were only three runners, and<br />
nothing capable of getting Buveur<br />
D’Air out of second gear, let alone<br />
his comfort zone.<br />
He only beat last year’s<br />
Swinton Hurdle winner John<br />
Constable a length and three<br />
quarters and having eased down<br />
a bit prematurely — a signal the<br />
seven-year-old gelding took as<br />
the moment to down tools —<br />
Barry Geraghty had to ride him<br />
out over the last 100 yards to<br />
avoid embarrassment, although<br />
the runner-up was substantially<br />
flattered by the winning margin.<br />
Buveur D’Air has now gone<br />
nearly two years unbeaten over<br />
hurdles but Henderson made it<br />
very clear he would keep having<br />
to pump work into him if he is to<br />
retain his title.<br />
“It’s job done but he needs a<br />
huge amount of work so it’s not<br />
really job done,” he explained.<br />
“He’s got to keep working and<br />
I wouldn’t rule out a canter round<br />
Kempton or somewhere like that<br />
nearer the time. He’s a very burly<br />
horse and, like a lot of us, puts<br />
on weight very easily. He loves<br />
that ground; the one thing which<br />
would worry you is good to firm.”<br />
The day started well for<br />
Henderson when the JP<br />
McManus-owned mare Countister<br />
won the Betfred Novices’ Hurdle.<br />
However, racegoers were deprived<br />
of what would have been a<br />
cracking finish when the longtime<br />
leader Ainchea — for the<br />
Potts/Tizzard axis — arrived at<br />
the last on a half stride and in two<br />
minds about whether to come up<br />
Terrefort lands a Grade One novices’ chase, ridden by Daryl Jacob<br />
Buveur brushes<br />
rivals aside<br />
Nicky Henderson fires off a treble, but warns his invincible<br />
Buveur D’Air needs more work after an easy win<br />
long or stick in a short one. In the<br />
end he did neither before falling.<br />
Countister had loomed up on<br />
to the quarters of Ainchea at the<br />
second last but, having led at<br />
a sedate pace, the leader left the<br />
mare a bit flat-footed between the<br />
two hurdles. Ainchea looked like<br />
he might have nicked it, thereby<br />
causing further frustration for the<br />
Colin Tizzard yard.<br />
Henderson’s third winner<br />
was courtesy of Terrefort in the<br />
Betfred TV Scilly Isles Novices’<br />
Chase. He has always said that<br />
Apple’s Shakira shows next to<br />
nothing at home and Terrefort<br />
is clearly another one which<br />
hides his light under a bushel<br />
at Seven Barrows.<br />
“I’m happy to keep eating<br />
humble pie as he keeps surprising<br />
me,” he said. “The handicapper<br />
[who put him up a stone at<br />
Huntingdon] is right and I’m<br />
wrong. This seemed an enormous<br />
bounce from a handicap into<br />
Grade One. We schooled him on<br />
Buveur D’Air (Barry Geraghty) stretches his<br />
winning run to almost two years, cantering<br />
home in the Betfred Contenders Hurdle<br />
‘He’s a burly<br />
horse and, like<br />
a lot of us, puts<br />
on weight easily’<br />
NICKY HENDERSON ON<br />
BUVEUR D’AIR’S FITNESS DRIVE<br />
Thursday and when Daryl Jacob<br />
jumped him over 10 fences you’d<br />
have wondered how he’d jump<br />
round here. You couldn’t watch<br />
anything slower at home but I love<br />
horses that do that to you.”<br />
There was also a tremendous<br />
finish between the Bowen<br />
brothers, Sean and James, in the<br />
Betfred Mobile Masters Handicap<br />
with Ballydine, ridden by Sean,<br />
just getting the measure of James<br />
on Holly Bush Henry. Charlie<br />
Longsdon might aim the winner<br />
for the National Hunt Chase<br />
now. H&H<br />
Pictures by Bill Selwyn<br />
68 <strong>Horse</strong> & <strong>Hound</strong> 8 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2018</strong>