Henderson satisfied with Afsoun

Nicky Henderson was more than satisfied after Afsoun was made to pull out all the stops to make a winning start to his fencing career in the Commscope Solutions And Anixter Business Partners Novices’ Chase at Warwick today.

The six-year-old, a dual Grade Two winner over timber and third in last year’s Champion Hurdle, refused to settle in the early stages of the two-mile contest and as a result, some of his jumping was less than perfect.

Jockey Barry Geraghty was having to nudge his mount along before turning for home but he picked up again after jumping the final fence to score by a head from Oh Crick.

“I don’t expect he’ll be favourite for the Arkle after that performance but in fairness, Barry and I are pleased with what he’s done,” said Henderson.

“He’s never been the most straightforward horse and we’ve had to give him quite a lot of schooling. His jumping was fair enough but if anything, he does just go left-handed so we’ve got to stick to left-handed tracks for the time being.

“I would like to just keep it low-profile for the moment and it looked there as though another half-mile is going to suit him.

“He’s got away with it today and while it didn’t look very likely at the second-last, after the bend he has picked up.

“He has finished third in a Champion Hurdle, he won a good race at Sandown last season where he beat Straw Bear and was just beaten by Hardy Eustace at Ascot so he has been very profitable over hurdles.

“Chasing was always something we were going to have to do because I’m the first to admit he’s not going to win a Champion Hurdle now and we did think about even trying three miles with him,” the trainer told Racing UK.

“I would rather he had won on the bridle but he will improve for this.”

The Paul Nicholls-trained Officier De Reserve warmed up for a possible trip to Ireland with an authoritative display in the Banbury Novices’ Hurdle.

The six-year-old was sent of the 6-5 favourite for his seasonal reappearance and stayed on strongly on the run-in under Ruby Walsh to score by a length and three-quarters.

Nicholls’ assistant Dan Skelton said: “He has had a breathing operation and obviously it has worked.

“He looked great beforehand and we are aiming him at a race at Navan on November 23 back over fences.

“He is a chaser really and hopefully the ground will be soft as that suits him.”

Nick Gifford’s Helium gave weight and a beating to his rivals in the Turftv Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle, earning a 40-1 quote from Stan James for the Triumph Hurdle.

The 5-2 chance was in front from an early stage under Liam Treadwell and although he was headed after jumping the second last, he battled back in tenacious style to score by three-quarters of a length from Sainglend.

“He is a horse who shows us a lot at home and you just want them to do it on the track and he has done it the hard way there,” said Gifford.

“He ran a bit with the choke out early on and was workmanlike in the end but he was giving a lot of weight away.

“When we bought we thought he could only get bigger and stronger and we hope he will make a chaser in time.”

Gifford also had news of his stable star Straw Bear, who was beaten into second on his chasing debut at Exeter last month and could return to that venue to gain more experience next week.