Nicky hoping for Sacre outing
The Seven Barrows trainer wants to get just one run into the hot favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the timing of the Victor Chandler Chase is ideal ahead of Cheltenham in March.
Should Ascot be abandoned, it would give Henderson another headache, with the festival less than two months away.
“He did a bit of work on Tuesday and that was as much as he needed to do before the race — if there is a (race on) Saturday,” he said.
“I only really wanted one more run between now and Cheltenham. It’s very valuable and it’s the obvious race for him before Cheltenham.
“We’ve struggled all winter because it has been so abnormally submerged, and an awful lot of horses haven’t been able to do what we want them to because you can’t run them on unsuitable ground. That was causing us enough headaches and now we’ve walked into this.”
Sprinter Sacre is the hottest property in the two-mile division and last season’s Arkle Trophy hero took his 100% record to six with a brilliant victory in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown last month.
The horses who filled the three places behind him — Kumbeshwar, Sanctuaire and Idarah — reoppose this weekend. Kumbeshwar’s trainer Alan King said: “He has won £56,000 so far for winning one race, and I think he got 25 grand just for running in the Tingle Creek.
“He can’t win handicaps off his current mark, so it makes sense just to duck and dive for the moment.”
Paul Nicholls-trained seven-year-old Sancutaire looked in good form over Christmas. “We’ll have to fight the good fight against Sprinter Sacre. We’re going to run, and you’d be thinking of going on to the Queen Mother in March,” said Nicholls’ assistant, Dan Skelton. “After that, there’s the race at Sandown (the Celebration Chase) he won last year and I imagine there’ll be a discussion about Punchestown.”
