MAGGIE THATCHER was still eight months from entering 10 Downing Street when Nicky Henderson first embarked on one of the great training careers.
The longevity and enthusiasm of Hendo, in a sport as difficult and fickle as racing, is a wonder to behold.
His sight might be failing him and he isn’t getting any younger, but the 75-year-old remains right up there with the very best in the pantheon of legendary jumps trainers.
The upcoming campaign will be his 48th, and 34th at Seven Barrows, and over those years the quality of horse in the yard has rarely dipped.
It’s no different this year, and he even has an ‘Italian Job’ to take care of with Constitution Hill before the jumps really kicks into gear.
But there is also plenty going on outside the sport, politics in particular, that is causing him a great deal of anxiety.
With the budget coming up, racing faces the prospect of a financial black hole if the bookies are hit with further tax rises.
Hendo has been front and centre of the campaign, pushing for our MPs to see sense — and he’s hoping they’ll come round at the 11th hour.
He said: “I find it all very frustrating and, to be honest, just very sad.
“I was saying to some of the younger trainers the other day, I’d love to be 30 again, it was great fun.
“But if you were 30, I’d be worried where is this all going to be when you’re 50?
“In 20 years’ time, who knows where the sport will be the way things are going.
“We’ve got to get it together this time, otherwise we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”
He continued: “We fought it off once before and we thought we’d put it to bed, but it has reared its ugly head again.
“They don’t tell us an awful lot of what’s going on, and the silence is deafening at the moment.
We’ve got Lincoln on our side and he’s doing a great job.
“We’re all ready.
We’re behind the parapets, ready to take them on.
But I just don’t like how quiet it’s gone.”
But it is absolutely not all doom and gloom at Seven Barrows.
Hendo has a spring in his step with the proper stuff about to get going and, like every other jumps trainer, he is now just waiting for the rains to come.
He said: “I love it, this sport is deep in my blood. It makes it easier to get out of bed first thing every morning when you’ve got lovely horses, and luckily we still have plenty of them.
“I think the team is shaping up really nicely. We don’t want to pull the trigger and get them ready too soon because we’re still waiting for the ground.
“We’ve got some lovely novice chasers and good old Jonbon is back again. The only thing missing is a Champion Hurdle horse, but I’m excited about how things are shaping up.”
But first things first, he’s got a trip to Milan with Constitution Hill to think about.
The former superstar hurdler will chase a huge payday in the Gran Premio del Jockey Club on Sunday, and Hendo is hoping the nine-year-old can take them on plenty more adventures next year.
He grinned: “He’s in very good form, he had a gallop on Saturday which went great and we’ve now got Rossa Ryan on board.
“There are a couple of nice horses coming out to join the fun, but they’ve all got penalties so we don’t have a huge gap to bridge.
“It’s worth a lot of money and we’ve got a nice lunch booked! I just need to dig out my Italian dictionary, but we’re all geared up and ready.”
NICKY HENDERSON STABLE TOUR
JONBON
(Grade 1 chases)
JP [McManus] adores Jonbon, and I’m sure he won’t mind me saying he’s definitely his favourite horse. We talk a lot about the horse and JP is very keen that we stick to our normal plan, so we’ll go Shloer and Tingle Creek.
I’m all for going as far, and further, if possible. Would we enter him in the King George? I don’t know, I’m sure JP will have others.
Who knows what the two-mile division is going to look like, it really depends on what Willie Mullins comes up with. He’s in great form.
OLD PARK STAR
(Novice chases)
HE couldn’t have done any better for us last season and remained unbeaten in four starts. We are going novice chasing.
Given what he did last season you’d think Arkle, but we’ll see how it goes as Old Park Star (right) has the potential to stay further. He has loads of scope.
JANGO BAIE (Injured)
HE ran a cracking race to finish second in the Gold Cup and was very good in the Bowl Chase at Aintree.
Jango Baie had a little injury so he won’t be ready until the New Year. His big aim is the Gold Cup.
ACT OF INNOCENCE
(Novice chases)
HE ran a fantastic race in the Turners and the plan is to go novice chasing. He’s had a lovely summer break and has loads of size about him.
He jumped his hurdles very well and could be an even better chaser. He’s got speed, we could drop him back in trip at some point.
IMPOSE TOI
(Staying hurdles)
THE second half of the season didn’t go to plan, I think he had a tough first half to his campaign and he might have been feeling it.
He’s still a very high-class hurdler and, hopefully, he will thrive again in staying hurdles this season. We’ll look at the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury to start.
LULAMBA
(Grade 1 chasers)
WE will look to go down the Jango Baie route, starting at Ascot in the 1965 Chase in November.
Lulamba will get an entry in the King George, but he is still a very young horse so we’ll see how things go.
HOLLOWAY QUEEN
(Staying chases)
WE nearly sold her last year but she came good in the spring.
We have our eye on the Coral Gold Cup and she will head there first time which will be tough, but she will have an away day before. She stays well, likes soft ground and the Welsh National would suit her as well.
PLANTERS PUNCH
(Novice hurdles)
HE’s a dark horse. He won all three races over hurdles last season but he is still a novice this year. He is a very exciting prospect for the season, I think he could be very smart. He starts at Cheltenham.
FEEL GUT
(Novice hurdles)
HE’s a lovely horse and I have no idea where he’ll end up but I think he’s a two-miler for now and we will hope he is a Lulamba-type horse.
DOWN JONES ROAD
(Novice hurdles)
THERE’s a lot of hype about him I hear! He’s definitely exciting and he was very impressive in his point-to-point. He’s grown over the summer and he is hugely exciting to go novice hurdling.
CRYSTAL ISLAND
(Novice chases)
WE considered staying over hurdles to get more experience but chasing will be his game. He’s already schooled over them and he looked good. He is definitely a staying type but his mark is quite stiff so we might have to steer clear of handicaps early on.
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