Handicappers' Corner: The drinks are on Nicky!

Timeform Debate / Phil Turner / 12 December 2011 / Leave a Comment

Success was sweet for Oscar Whisky at Cheltenham.

"Oscar Whisky, in our opinion, has the strongest form credentials to wrest away Hurricane Fly's crown..."

Nicky Henderson may have to endure his annual self-imposed month on the wagon soon, but it's safe to assume that the birthday drinks were flowing freely thanks to trebles all around this weekend.

The veteran Lambourn trainer, who turned sixty-one on Saturday, saddled three winners on each of the two days at Cheltenham's International meeting, whilst he also notched up three wins from raiding parties at Doncaster on both afternoons. This haul has helped Henderson into a clear second place in the trainers' championship table, with Saturday's sparkling treble at Prestbury Park adding further weight to the view that he's now got both the quantity and quality to launch a concerted attack to Paul Nicholls' crown for the remainder of 2011/12.

Henderson certainly appears to have an edge over his title rival in the two-mile hurdling division at present, with Grandouet (Timeform rating h166) cementing his position as a live Champion Hurdle contender by winning the valuable International Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday. His four-length defeat of Overturn (h165) reads well in the context of the home-trained challenge, particularly as the latter gelding (who was conceding 4 lb) has been in consistently fine form in recent weeks.

The presence of the Nicholls-trained Brampour (h160) in third also suggests it was a good renewal of this Grade 2 given that he brought strong recent handicap form to the table, as does the fact that 2010 principals Menorah (h159, c141p) and Clerks Choice (h157) could manage only fourth and seventh respectively this time around.

Grandouet is now second favourite to reigning title-holder Hurricane Fly (h174) in the Champion Hurdle ante-post market and, although he's clearly got further improvement to find on the ratings, it could be argued that he represents decent value given that the latter gelding has been forced to miss two out of the last three Cheltenham Festivals due to training setbacks. Henderson, meanwhile, is also responsible for three of the next five in the betting, namely the yet-to-reappear Spirit Son (h159p), the 2010 champion Binocular (h163) and the 2011 third Oscar Whisky (h171).

The last-named of that trio, of course, was also in action at Cheltenham on Saturday and ran out an ultimately convincing winner of the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle, giving 8 lb and a length-and-three-quarters beating to Get Me Out of Here (h153+) in a race which was run at a muddling pace. Oscar Whisky, in our opinion, has the strongest form credentials to wrest away Hurricane Fly's crown but, as things stand, he's still reportedly due to have a crack at Big Buck's (h176+) in the mile-longer World Hurdle instead.

Quantitativeeasing (c149) is unlikely to have any Grade 1 targets on his agenda at the Festival, but he's clearly a very smart handicapper in the making and may yet do better granted a return to further, certainly shaping that way as he did all of his best work late on to overhaul Medermit (c160) and Roudoudou Ville (c148) in an exciting finish to the Spinal Research The Atlantic 4 Gold Cup.

Third-placed Roudoudou Ville remains one to consider for similar events as he was arguably unlucky on Saturday, suffering significant interference around halfway and, having been revved up by that incident, possibly going for home too soon. Salut Flo ((c141) is the other to take from that race, as he's well handicapped on his old form and shaped as if retaining all of that ability despite having missed 2010/11 - indeed, he would have taken a major hand in the finish at Cheltenham but for blundering badly three out.

The other handicap chase on Saturday's card also looks strong form for the grade, with the novice Astracad (c143) gamely beating the in-form pair Rileyev (c132) and Havingotascoobydo (c138), whilst the late fallers Tanks For That (c150) and Takeroc (c147) both showed enough to suggest they're still competitively handicapped at present.

Astracad's win, of course, was a boost to the form of our highest-rated novice chaser Al Ferof (c155p), though it bears repeating that this looks a vintage crop of novice chasers and the Henderson-trained Sprinter Sacre (c150p) entered the Arkle picture with a sparkling chasing debut win at Doncaster on Friday.

Henderson had to play second fiddle to Nicholls in the novice chase division at Cheltenham some twenty-fours later, however, as Join Together (c150p) looked a high-class stayer in the making when defeating Mossley (c140+) and Champion Court (c139). Join Together would be well worth his place in the RSA Chase on that form but, given that Nicholls is also responsible for the promising Sonofvic (c145p), it wouldn't be the biggest surprise to see this very stout stayer aimed at the four-mile National Hunt Chase instead.

The other notable performances from the weekend came from Baby Mix (h137p), who posted the highest Timeform juvenile hurdle rating of the season so far with an impressive win on his British debut, and the Irish-trained Rubi Light (c162), who gained compensation for his final-fence fall at Gowran in October (when set to beat Sizing Europe) with a lucrative win in the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase.