Nicky Henderson had no winners on Saturday and received plenty of flak for not running Altior - but Ben Linfoot says it still might be a day to remember for all the right reasons.
No Altior, no Pond Fence, no fence at all in the Aintree home straight. Low winter sun and the long, looming shadow of the Cheltenham Festival, casting itself over the first weekend in December, encapsulating all the frustrations of National Hunt racing in one afternoon.
Carnage in the Becher Chase. Mark Johnson handing over to himself in commentary. Doing Fine winning the London National a year on from when he won the London National. This year, thankfully, the result stands. All that was missing was a masked Santa running across the track.
It’s the silly season, alright, although Nicky Henderson wasn’t laughing. Chastised from all quarters for not running Altior in the Betfair Tingle Creek Chase, he had odds-on favourites beaten in the first two races at Sandown as Paros (4/7) and Grand Mogul (2/11) were turned over before Chasamax (3/1) was a well-beaten fourth, as well.
At one stage of the afternoon it looked as though Might Bite could conceivably be his only winner of the day in the Grand Sefton, but the quirky 11-year-old was not in on the joke and was detached after a fence.
Even Mister Coffey, so well fancied to repeat his course and distance win at Sandown in the closing handicap hurdle that he was sent off 13/8, could only manage third. A blank day for Seven Barrows and there won’t be many Saturdays throughout the season you can say that.
But, despite all this, there was a ray of sunshine. And it came in the sunshine, at Liverpool, where Santini ran second on his seasonal reappearance in the Grade 2 Many Clouds Chase.
Make no mistake, this was a farce of a race. The three fences in the home straight were omitted on all circuits because of the low sun. Jump racing, it was not.
Santini is a slow horse, a grinder, a horse that needs fences to keep him going. This was the wrong track for him in unfortunate circumstances and he was chivvied along by Jerry McGrath after the first lap. At one point he was losing ground and looked set for fourth.
But to his enormous credit he rallied. He responded to pressure to such an extent that in the final furlong, as they negotiated another dolled off fence, it looked as though he might even pull the race out of the fire.
He couldn’t, in the end, as Lake View Lad found that little bit more. The winner travelled well, he seemed to benefit the most from the lack of a fence and, most crucially, was in receipt of 6lb. He beat Santini a length in the end, but it was the son of Milan who came out the best horse at the weights.
So it was surprising to see the bookies universally push Santini out for the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup. Most nudged him out a point or two to around 7/1. Sky Bet go 8s. Hills went a punchy 10s before trimming him back to 9/1, the same as bet365.
But this wasn’t a performance that dented his Gold Cup claims. The race might’ve been a bit of joke, but Santini showed plenty of courage and talent to see off Native River and Frodon off levels, even if that pair were hugely inconvenienced by the lack of fences, as well. No, he looked as good as ever and this performance bodes very well indeed.
His last run before today was in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, where he stayed on resolutely to be beaten a neck in good to soft ground. A bit more rain throughout the week and he might’ve got there. He was eight then, he’ll be in his prime when nine next March and a soft ground Gold Cup would very much play to his strengths.
A visibly shaken Henderson fronted up to Lydia Hislop in a compelling RacingTV interview at Sandown where they discussed Altior’s absence in depth - “I’m looking after the horse, that’s my job” – the repeated line, but he mentioned Santini, too.
“I was [encouraged],” he said. “We said all along we didn’t think Aintree was likely to be his track, he’s a galloping horse, quite lazy.
“I thought he was quite unfortunate as both times they turned down the back straight were the only two times that he really pricked his ears and jumped – unfortunately there were no fences to carry him home. But for his first run of the season, that was great.”
Indeed it was. And while Henderson might look back on this day with nothing but bad memories, perhaps it will grow in his affections in time. Perhaps, even, it was the day that his 2021 Gold Cup winner began his journey on the road to Cheltenham, in a race that he didn’t really want to run him in.
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