That a rejuvenated Nicky Henderson might be able to shake up Willie Mullins’s dominance at the Cheltenham festival in 50 days was underlined with some aplomb at Ascot on Saturday.
Not only did Jonbon tighten his grip on favouritism for the Queen Mother Champion Chase with his stylish Clarence House Chase defeat of Energumene but Henderson’s new recruit Lulamba more than lived up to pre-race hype with an impressive British debut.
It saw Lulamba cut to as short as 7-4 for the Triumph Hurdle and puts Henderson in the enviable position of currently having four of the shortest-priced favourites at the festival.
A revitalised Constitution Hill is odds on to reclaim the Champion Hurdle crown while Sir Gino looks all but unstoppable for the Arkle.
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Energumene hoping to overcome veteran status in Clarence House clash with Jonbon
All of it means Henderson is a 7-1 second favourite to put an end to Mullins’s run as the festival’s top trainer.
The Irish man remains a red-hot 1-6 shot to lift the prize for the sixth year in a row and 12th time in all. Even those odds are more generous than those available on Ireland yet again emerging on top of the home team in Prestbury Cup betting.
But this latest weekend evidence of Henderson getting the better of his great rival in pre-festival sparring means there are growing cross-channel hopes he can buttress a resurgence in local fortunes in March.
No one knows better than the veteran English man though how fortunes can change in the run-up to the most important meeting of the year. A bout of stable illness at just the wrong time decimated Henderson’s festival challenge in 2024.
In contrast Mullins stepped up with nine victories that took him to a record 103 festival winners in all and helped him to become the first Irish-based figure to be the champion trainer in Britain for 70 years.
Having lifted Ireland’s trainer’s crown for an 18th time last spring, with a record 257 winners and over €7 million in prize money, Mullins’s position of dominance is unprecedented.
However, a comparatively busier cross-channel campaign so far this season hasn’t delivered what might have been expected.
Just a handful of lower-level winners have come from 23 runners and Energumene was the latest to come up against the Henderson bandwagon on Saturday.
The former dual-champion chaser was powerless to get close to Jonbon in the closing stages of Saturday’s Grade One highlight. It meant JP McManus’s star won at the top level for a ninth time.
He is now a rock-solid 5-4 favourite for Champion Chase glory although Henderson is taking nothing for granted ahead of the expected Mullins challenge at Cheltenham.
“That is the second time we have come out on top against Energumene, but I’m sure Willie has got plenty more, and I know he has. He has got a horsebox full of them to take us on in March! I’m sure that is not the end of Willie Mullins and the Champion Chase challenge, you can be sure of that,” said the English man.
Gaelic Warrior couldn’t cope with Solness on his return to action at Leopardstown over Christmas but is rated the likeliest danger to Jonbon at Cheltenham. Last season’s Arkle winner is due to return to Leopardstown for the upcoming Dublin Racing Festival.
Ground conditions will be crucial as to whether Energumene gets another shot at Jonbon in the Champion Chase. Only the 1980s star Badworth Boy has completed a hat-trick of victories in the two-mile championship.
“We probably just need to pick our battles and have the right conditions and that would mean very soft ground. If it came up heavy at Cheltenham, like it did last year, you’d maybe have a pop. But Wille and Paul [Townend] will make up their minds where he goes next,” said Seán Graham representing Energumene’s owner Tony Bloom.
Henderson will try to maintain his momentum at the home of National Hunt racing in this Saturday’s Trials Day fixture at Cheltenham.
Having returned to action, and maintained his unbeaten record, at Kempton over Christmas, Constitution Hill is likely to scare away meaningful opposition in the Unibet Hurdle.
“We sort of had an idea after a week he had come out of Kempton really well and he was bright. It was a bit brave of me announcing he was going to run and then having to gallop him — I should have done it the other way round — so I rather nervously had to gallop him.
“But Nico [de Boinville] rode him and said he was in great form. You can ask Nico, he worked beautifully.
“He looks really well and I’m actually surprised how well he has come out of Kempton. We had to be quite hard on him to get him to Kempton at the time and I was scared it might just show on him. But it doesn’t appear to and he’s a very happy boy,” Henderson said.
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