Switch from chasing with Buveur D'Air proves a masterstroke
Events on this greatest of all jumping stages have caused us more than once to marvel at the mastery of Nicky Henderson, who one year on from his extraordinary revival of Sprinter Sacre again underlined why he is the most successful of all Cheltenham Festival trainers with another miraculous reinvention.
With the wonder that was Sprinter, Henderson, supported by an exceptional team at Seven Barrows, put together the pieces of a broken chaser, instilling within a sublime racehorse the lost self-belief he required to give us that day of days in last season's unforgettable Queen Mother Champion Chase.
On a much less enjoyable festival afternoon there were calls for the brilliant black beauty to be retired. It would have been the easy thing to do. Henderson knew he must do something different.
Something inside a man blessed with a rare understanding of racehorses told him Sprinter could come back. It was an intuitive, irresistible feeling.
So, too, was the deep conviction that Buveur D'Air should stop being a novice chaser and belatedly set off down the road that led to a breathtaking victory in the Stan James Champion Hurdle.
Twelve months earlier, wearing the colours of Jared Sullivan and Chris Giles, the French import had finished a well-beaten third to Altior in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, ridden by the owners' favourite jockey Noel Fehily. There followed an Aintree defeat of Petit Mouchoir, a private sale to JP McManus and novice chase wins at Haydock and Warwick.
All seemed well. Henderson, however, had nagging doubts. The rest, as they say, is history.
"I was always happy this was the right thing to do and it has worked on the day," said Henderson.
"He was going to be a good chaser but he'd had only four hurdles races in his life. There was unfinished business. We ummed and ahhed. After Altior went chasing Buveur D'Air followed him down that road, but then I thought, 'Hang on, we've got to be doing this wrong somewhere'.
"I felt there was room to come and do this. The decision was right, but all I've done is stopped My Tent winning a Champion Hurdle, which he so deserves to do."
"It doesn't get much better than this," said McManus – whose retained rider Barry Geraghty is sidelined – before being asked how Henderson persuaded him to change tack with Buveur D'Air.
"I was delighted for poor old Tent as well. That's the fourth time he's been second at the festival. That makes it a great training performance from Nicky."
"I love him to bits," said Fehily. "When you ride good horses it makes you feel as though you want to go on forever. Obviously I've got more Cheltenham Festivals behind me than I have in front of me, but I enjoyed that."
So did Buveur D'Air's trainer. His latest Champion Hurdle winner's name translates from French as 'drinker of air'. Following another display of his genius, Henderson was entitled to enjoy something a tad stronger.
Published on 14 March 2017inReports
Last updated 18:35, 14 March 2017
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