Impressive Princelet initiates nice double for Henderson
Owned by JP McManus, the 13-8 favourite earned a 33-1 quote from William Hill for the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham as he smoothly landed the spoils under Tony McCoy with a length and a half to spare from Traprain.Jumping well throughout, Princelet bounded clear on the top turn and although Traprain closed the gap, he never looked like putting in an effective challenge.
“Mick Fitzgerald has done all the work on Princelet at home but AP (McCoy) came over to school him on Tuesday,” explained Henderson’s assistant Charlie Longsdon.
“Tony was very pleased with his jumping and said he never lost any ground in the air. He is still unfurnished and is a horse for the future.”
Henderson, who is on holiday, struck again when Au Courant (11-2) took the EBF National Hunt Novices’ Hurdle in the hands of Fitzgerald.
With warm favourite Hot ‘N’ Holy unable to handle the track, Au Courant and Fitzgerald overpowered Barton Legend at the final flight before going on to score by a length and a quarter.
Longsdon added: “This fellow is a big baby and the course today was as sharp as he would want it. Jumping would be the name of his game. It was only the second race of his life and he was very green.”
On what proved a good day for favourite-backers, Siberian Highness (11-10) had no trouble taking the second division of the Novices’ Hurdle, scoring by 11 lengths from Dark Parade for trainer Alan King.
Siberian Highness will now have her sights set on the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
