Henderson just two away from landmark win
The 6-5 favourite was not stretched to score by three lengths from The Cockney Mackem under Tony McCoy.
It had been thought Henderson had gone to 1,999 successes with the win, but a spokeswoman for the Seven Barrows trainer confirmed to Press Association Sport it was in fact 1,998.
Henderson looked to have a leading chance of getting to 1,999 with Ruthenoise (7-2 favourite) in the Henley Hall Gold Cup.
Runner-up to the stable’s Champion Hurdle hero Binocular at Sandown at the weekend, the six-year-old moved well for a long way and was a short price in running.
However, the Richard Price-trained Ocean Transit was never far away and after pinging the last scooted clear for a ready success under Henderson’s 5lb claimer David Bass.
Henderson will start Thursday still needing two winners for 2,000 after his Glendue finished out of the places in the Onibury Maiden Hurdle, won in good style by the Sir Alex Ferguson-owned Sinbad The Sailor.
Nick Mitchell meanwhile believes The Listener could be the forgotten horse heading into Saturday’s rearranged Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown.
The bold jumping grey has won four Grade Ones, two of those at Leopardstown, including the 2008 renewal of this prestigious race.
He showed in the Lexus Chase that the old exuberance was still there, despite being a 12-year-old and after over a year off, and the soft ground he will encounter this weekend will be no worry to him.
“He has come out of the Lexus very well and the main objective was to get a race into him and to come back with his leg as clean as a whistle and it has been touch wood,” said Mitchell.
“He hasn’t missed a beat and it has been behaving itself and we will kick on.
“He had a very common tendon stress on his foreleg and we managed to get it very early before it got seriously bad.”
The Listener is a 10-1 chance with Paddy Power for Saturday’s race.
