Henderson keen to mind special Might Bite en route to King George

Nicky Henderson is nailing Might Bite's multi-colours to the King George mast and working backwards in a bid to help the mercurial eight-year-old extract every ounce of his wondrous talent.

He will leave others to worry about the Betfair Chase, and a potential £1 million bonus, with the champion trainer instead setting a calmer course for Kempton via Sandown this Sunday.

To most Haydock would be the logical starting point for a horse who did the Cheltenham and Aintree double as a novice, but a Michelin star chef does not just boil some water and set the egg timer and the four-time champion trainer is no different with a horse whose mind is as delicate as his talent is enormous.

Henderson's intuition tells him the Betfair Chase would be too much too soon for his enigmatic star and a £1 million bonus is not enough of a reason to potentially spoil such a special talent.

"He's really good, so far everything's going to plan and Sunday has always been a part of that. The King George is his first big objective and we'll see where we stand after that," he told the Racing Post.

"Everyone thinks he's quirky but he's not, he just needs minding a bit. As tempting as £1 million is, he has a lot of very realistic owners and — given he needs minding — I'm not sure Haydock is the right race for him.

"With the bonus it'll be a very hot race and he'd have to be awful wound up first time, there's no point going if you're not trying to win, and I'm not sure that's the right way to get him to the King George in the best shape possible.

"There are some very good horses in the Sandown race, so he might still have a hard race and there's no guarantee he'll win, but it's a kinder way to start him off and we want him to be spot on for Kempton. He's very well at home, he's done some very pleasing work."

A mighty sight: all eyes are on the supremely talented Might Bite as he strikes a pose at Nicky Henderson's open dayCredit: Edward Whitaker

Henderson is not attempting anything specific at home to straighten out a horse who has thrown away an 18-length lead in a Grade 1 at Kempton on Boxing Day when falling at the last — and nearly threw away a similar margin when idling and hanging towards the parade ring entrance after the last in the RSA Chase — instead opting to manage the waywardness rather than risk knocking out some of the brilliance along with the flaws.

"What did he do wrong at Aintree? He just needs minding a little," he explained. "He's a horse who has his own ideas as he showed at Cheltenham, but I don't think we have to do anything specific to 'fix' it as such, he just needs looking after a bit.

"He doesn't deserve a hard race first time out, and maybe the Sandown race will still be hard, but it probably won't be as hard as the Betfair Chase as it's a Grade 1 and everyone's targeting it and he just doesn't need that first time."

Stablemate Top Notch is also entered in the Future Stars Intermediate Chase, which Coneygree won two years ago, but will instead return over hurdles at Aintree on Saturday.

He said about the Grade 1 Scilly Isles winner: "He'll go back over fences after that. We're looking at the Ascot Chase for him next."

On the return of two of his Cheltenham winners, he said: "Altior's great and it's all systems go for the Tingle Creek and Buveur D'Air is on course for the Fighting Fifth."

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