Henderson: Might Bite firing again and should be feared in Gold Cup

Might Bite is back in business following two disastrous runs this season and should not be underestimated when he lines up as a relative outsider this time in the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 15.

That was the message following Nicky Henderson's traditional racecourse gallops at Kempton, where last year's Gold Cup runner-up was among a dozen of Seven Barrows' finest who had the finishing touches put to their big-race preparations, working in four batches of three under jockeys Nico de Boinville, Aidan Coleman and Daryl Jacob.

Having been last in the Betfair Chase and last to finish in the King George, a race he had won 12 months previously, Might Bite is a general 14-1 chance for the Gold Cup, for which he was favourite last year.

However, he is showing all the right signs again now and Henderson revealed a change in his medication for a longstanding problem with ulcers might be a factor.

Speaking after Might Bite and De Boinville had come out on top in a good bit of work on the all-weather track with Champ and Top Notch, Henderson said: "We had to do a few things, because he wasn't performing, and besides cauterising his soft palate again, which I've said plenty about before and might be significant, we also changed the medication he was on for ulcers, which we'd always been treating him for.

"There was nothing much else we could do, but something's changed and he's definitely working to a much higher level now. He's been telling us for a while that we're getting somewhere near the old Might Bite, and I was delighted with that. He looks great and all we want now is some decent ground."

De Boinville was every bit as pleased and said: "He feels like he's in great order, as the guv'nor said he was, and he's shown it there with the way he's finished his gallop. I sat last behind Top Notch and Champ and bided my time until we were round the bend, then made sure he galloped all the way to the line. It was very straightforward."

Minutes later De Boinville rode defending Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Altior in a similar piece of work with River Wylde and Theinval, and he was purring after the three-time Festival winner pulled easily clear.

He said: "What can you say. As soon as I said 'go' the job was done. I pulled him up with half a furlong to go and he's still finished three or four lengths clear. He's just class."

It was no more than everyone expected of Altior, whose owner Patricia Pugh was also on hand, but Henderson was pleased too.

The trainer said: "Altior was much too good for them, but you would be disappointed if he hadn't been. If he hadn't done that there would either have been something wrong with him, or else we've got the other two in the wrong races! The only horse who might have gone with Altior was Brain Power, and I didn't want to bring him."

Powerful squad

The gallops companions of the 'big two' did all that was expected of them.

Henderson said: "Nothing worked badly, which is the main thing, and I thought the whole morning went like clockwork.

"Aidan [Coleman] was delighted with Champ and he's won on him before at Newbury [in a handicap, four weeks before the Challow Hurdle]. He'll probably have to give way to Barry [Geraghty] again in the Ballymore, but it was good he had a sit on him.

"Top Notch gave them a nice lead and he runs in the Ryanair. He's probably 5lb below being a proper Grade 1 horse but tries very hard to be one."

He added: "Theinval will have a third go in the Grand Annual and always runs well there. He's going there with Whatswrongwithyou, who I took to Fontwell on Sunday as it was the last opportunity to give him that third run and to get him up the handicap enough to get in. To my horror he's gone up 10lb, when I was expecting 5lb or 6lb, but at least he's in.

"River Wylde hasn't run since that shocking fall at the last at Haydock on Betfair Chase day, when he would have won. He got a horrible cut and I thought he wouldn't run again, but we've got him back and finishing upsides Theinval behind Altior was perfect. He's on course for the Brown Advisory."

In the two earlier gallops Daphne Du Clos and Countister worked with Triumph Hurdle-bound Adjali, and Ok Corral worked with Call Me Lord.

All did what was expected of them and Ok Corral worked particularly well for a horse whose Cheltenham target is over four miles in the National Hunt Chase.

Henderson said: "I thought Ok Corral worked great. Aidan rode him here but Derek O'Connor will ride him in the National Hunt Chase. He doesn't work like a four-miler, and didn't look like one at Warwick either, but it's where we are going and it keeps him apart from Santini, who runs in the RSA."

While 11 of the 12 gallopers are Cheltenham bound, Call Me Lord will make his second start of the campaign at Sandown, where he ended last season with a second in the Imperial Cup before beating Lil Rockerfeller easily in the Grade 2 on the final day.

After Jacob had partnered him in the second gallop, with Ok Corral and Apple's Shakira, Henderson said: "I was pleased with that as I didn't think he was ready. He likes going right-handed so it looks as if the Imperial Cup is the race for him again."

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