'He's 50-50' - Santini a Cotswold Chase doubt as Henderson voices ground fears

Santini’s participation in the Cotswold Chase on Saturday is in doubt, with trainer Nicky Henderson increasingly concerned about the likely heavy conditions at Cheltenham.

Santini beat Bristol De Mai by three and a half lengths to win last season’s Cotswold, his second win on Cheltenham’s informative Trials day card, but his participation in this weekend's Paddy Power-sponsored Grade 2 is not certain as Henderson is wary of giving the nine-year-old a gruelling race less than seven weeks before he attempts to go one place better in the Gold Cup.

Ladbrokes make Betfair Chase winner Bristol De Mai, who has yet to win in six starts at Cheltenham, their new 2-1 favourite, with Santini pushed out to 11-4 alongside 2018 Gold Cup winner Native River.

Henderson told the Racing Post: “We don’t know what we’ll do yet. We’ll have to wait and see exactly what happens when they’ve [Cheltenham] had all this rain.

Santini finished second in last season's Cheltenham Gold Cup to Al Boum PhotoCredit: Edward Whitaker

“The heavy ground is the only concern, I want to run but there will be a point where we might not. He doesn’t really enjoy heavy ground, he’ll cope with it but I don’t think under these circumstances this is the right time for a race in those conditions, so we might look for an alternative. I don’t know what that might be. We’ve got a lot of facilities, he could do a lot of work here.”

The involvement of Santini, fifth in last month’s King George VI Chase after being supplemented, is just one potential headache for Henderson, who is set to otherwise be well represented at Cheltenham and Doncaster on Saturday.

Sporting Life Arkle Chase favourite Shishkin is scheduled to run in the Lightning Novices’ Chase and is one of five entries for Henderson at Doncaster, while Santini is one of ten entries for the Seven Barrows trainer at Cheltenham.

Shishkin, pictured winning at Kempton, remains on course for the Lightning Novices' Chase at DoncasterCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

With Jerry McGrath sidelined after breaking his hip and shoulder in a fall at Lingfield last week, Henderson is still considering riding plans, with no final decision made on where stable jockey Nico de Boinville will ride.

Henderson added: “If all goes well Shishkin will definitely go to Doncaster. I don’t know where Nico might go, there’s Shishkin and two mares in the Grade 2 race, so we’ve got quite a lot of runners at both meetings. It’s all up in the air with the weather.”

Henderson also voiced his concerns about the ground for Santini on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast. He said: “It’s called Trials day, it is a trial and if he’s going to hate it, it will do him more harm than good. I've got to say it's 50-50."

Read more:

Five horses who will thrive on the soft ground at Cheltenham on Saturday

Festival fact-finding: Shishkin, Paisley Park and Yala Enki entered at weekend

Cheltenham and Doncaster confident of beating cold snap for weekend fixtures

For all our exclusive free bet offers and must-have daily promotions click the free bets button or go to racingpost.com/freebets