NJH - What's going on?

[Grasshopper]

Nicky Henderson is a trainer I've loved since I started following racing, and despite his, er, troubles in the summer, I still hold him in high regard. But some of his campaign decision this season have left me scratching my head.

His prevarication around the targets for Binocular, Zaynar and Punjabi have been well advertised throughout the season (and could be forgiven to an extent, imo), but he also appears to be in a guddle about what to do with his novice chasers.

After the Feltham, Long Run has the RSA Chase as his objective......then it's the Arkle.....then it's back to the RSA.

Punchestowns is entered at New Year but doesn't run............NJH claims he desperately wants to get a run into him..............enters him for Saturday......................but allows Geraghty onto Diamond Harry of all beasts, indicating Punchestowns won't run.

Now Waley-Cohen suggests there's only two possible races for Long Run - the Scilly Isles or the Kingmaker over 2m! The latter is hardly an ideal RSA prep - has he never heard of the Reynoldstown, or is the Arkle still a possibility?

The pessimist in me thinks Punchestowns has had a setback, but even so, how many mixed messages can one yard send out in a season?

Is it just circumstance, or is Nicky losing it?

 

[moscow]

Mrs Wilson wanted to run in Scilly Isles

 

[davidjohnson]

Tricky one. I suspect his quotes made before lunchtime and probably worth more than those made afterwards.

 

[rorydelargy]

Tricky one. I suspect his quotes made before lunchtime and probably worth more than those made afterwards.

Cheeky!

 

[Desert Orchid]

Mrs Wilson wanted to run in Scilly Isles

She'd never beat any of the horses.

 

[Dylan Thomas]

he wasnt to blame for Punchestowns not running you should check the ground

 

[Irish Stamp]

Plenty of other horses ran on the ground DT - was safe enough but hindsight is 20/20.

It looks to me like NJH doesn't want to run Punchestowns in competitive races - the Altcar looked like being a weak enough G2 prior to the decs stage, now there's Diamond Harry and Knockara Beau in addition to Bensalem entered up and wants as soft a build up to Cheltenham as he can get.

 

[Guest_]

Yep, as commented elsewhere he is almost over complicating things this season.

 

[Cantoris]

Yep, as commented elsewhere he is almost over complicating things this season.

 

[SteveM]

Nicky Henderson is a trainer I've loved since I started following racing, and despite his, er, troubles in the summer, I still hold him in high regard. But some of his campaign decision this season have left me scratching my head...

..Is it just circumstance, or is Nicky losing it?

All I’d say about it is that Henderson is a master at bringing horses to a peak when it matters. What trainers say and what they do are not always necessarily the same thing. Plans are not always set in stone, but for the majority of horses more fluid according to race conditions and the objective required for a particular appearance. But on the big days he’s the one trainer I’m always uneasy in backing against.

 

[Harbinger]

Tricky one. I suspect his quotes made before lunchtime and probably worth more than those made afterwards.

:lol:

 

[Desert Orchid]

But on the big days he’s the one trainer I’m always uneasy in backing against.

Me too.