Nicky Henderson still plans to send Shishkin to the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup in March following his agonising defeat in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase.
The nine-year-old was two lengths clear of his rivals when stumbling on landing at the second and unseating Nico de Boinville.
The trainer said “I think they say - ‘that’s racing!’ I was delighted with him until then. To be fair Nico and I had discussed the start (of the race) at length but we hadn’t really discussed the rest of the race. But he was having a good time, he was jumping great.
“There was all this talk of having to put cheek pieces on him and things – we took them off because it was the obvious thing to do. I think a lot of people thought it might help him but he didn’t look as if he needed them there did he?”
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Asked what jockey de Boinville had said afterwards, Henderson continued: “It appears, and those that have watched the replay have said, that he didn’t do anything wrong. He just sort of stumbled and forgot to get the foot out.”
On future plans for Shishkin, he went on: “He’s got to go for the Gold Cup hasn’t he, because that’s the obvious race? He’s not going to come back in trip I wouldn’t have thought. I suppose that’s what we’ll have to do.”
De Boinville described the way their race ended as “cruel”.
He said: “I’m very proud of the horse but these things happen. I think it happened about three strides after the fence, I don’t know why. Racing can be cruel but it can be wonderful at the same time. He was very good today.”
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