Queen Mother Champion Chase 2021

[ComplyOrDie]

I love the way Nicky had Altiors welfare as a major concern, but he clearly doesn't care much for his other horses then.

Take Vegas Blue for instance, and you can all go and check the result here and view trainer comment where he clearly states the filly would prefer a quicker surface nearly a year ago, then just 2 days ago, (here for race and comments) he runs her on HEAVY, and the trainers rep has no bloody explanation for her poor run.

There's your f-ing 'welfare' chaps.

[Quevega]

Horses get taken out of races on a daily basis due to ground conditions. It's a big deal as it's a high profile horse.

I for one lost cash by him by getting withdrawn but I accept it as you have to trust connections to do right by the horse.

It certainly looked worse than soft to my eye.

Were you at the track or got 4k Ultra HD ?

[Eireman]

Altior is the equivalent of a boxer who is the undefeated, take an all comers all time light heavyweight champ who steps up to heavyweight to fight for the title but loses a prep fight. Steps back down to regain the light heavyweight title but instead of being the take on all comers champ we saw him at last time in the division he now claims to be the man in the division while cherry picking his fights and pulling out of his title fight.

Is he the best in the division? Potentially but he used to do his talking in the ring but now spends more time calling himself the champ outside of it so I think it's fair that people are asking a question of him.

[Kautothegreat8]

Were you at the track or got 4k Ultra HD ?

Here we go again

[Captain Chris]

Again I'll ask you the same question ....... Why was he pulled out ?

The interview he gave struck me as being someone who is terrified of losing. Whether that's because, mentally, Nicky can't cope with it or because he's afraid of what people will think if it happened. He's too precious of the horse IMO. That's why I think he was pulled out.

His constant referencing of Nico having to lead him in and how upset he was by it - understandably I must add - make me think he just won't risk him unless everything falls right. If I owned one of the other horses he ran at Sandown on Saturday, I'd be on the phone first thing Sunday morning demanding to know why it's acceptable to "bottom out" my horse in "horrible" ground.

Personally, I think he's talking bollocks and should be called out on it. In all other sports, those making the decisions get questioned and have to justify their reasoning. He doesn't seem to think that the rules apply to him. Fair play for giving the interview as he didn't have to though.

[Quevega]

Here we go again

[Quevega]

The interview he gave struck me as being someone who is terrified of losing. Whether that's because, mentally, Nicky can't cope with it or because he's afraid of what people will think if it happened. He's too precious of the horse IMO. That's why I think he was pulled out.

His constant referencing of Nico having to lead him in and how upset he was by it - understandably I must add - make me think he just won't risk him unless everything falls right. If I owned one of the other horses he ran at Sandown on Saturday, I'd be on the phone first thing Sunday morning demanding to know why it's acceptable to "bottom out" my horse in "horrible" ground.

Personally, I think he's talking bollocks and should be called out on it. In all other sports, those making the decisions get questioned and have to justify their reasoning. He doesn't seem to think that the rules apply to him. Fair play for giving the interview as he didn't have to though.

Yep, of all the horses in the stable Altior would have handled it best.

Nicky would have just got a bit nervy the night before, and may not have had him as fit as he liked.

The bottomed thing last season is nonsense, and he was as fit as possible prior to that race against Cyrname (according to Nicky).
So when they mentioned after that the ground was atrocious and he probably wasn't fully fit - these were just excuses for losing.

He just gets a bit farty with his stable stars at times.
I'm sure he's pulled horses before because they looked at him funny.

I think his anger yesterday reflected someone who thought he'd fucked up by not running him more than anything else.

"Thou doth protest too much methinks, (and lie about the ground) Sir"

If I'd have been Lydia I'd have nailed him proper with questions about the welfare of his other horses, and why soft ground has never bottomed him in previous seasons. As well as several other valid questions this forum has put up

[Cheltenham Novice Chase]

I have to say I think there has been a big over reaction against Nicky Henderson. I have to say from my perspective, he always come across as such a gentleman and we’re lucky to have someone of his talents plying their trade here in the UK. He is the winning most UK trainer at the festival, a festival which we all love. There will come a time in the not too distant future, now that he’s 70, when he won’t be training anymore and when that day comes the sport will be the poorer for it. I for one hope he carries on for as long as possible. His class, as reflected in his polite and professional conduct, is pretty rare these days.

I think it is safe to say, irrespective of what the official going was or what the times were, that he and his informed team thought he ground was worse than indicated and ultimately worse than they wanted for Altior’s first run of the season. He took the best decision for the horse’s outlook for the remainder of the season and for that he should be commended. He was concerned about the horse’s wellbeing although I think he might have mistakenly used the term welfare.

Trainers are under no obligation to divulge all or any of their thinking or all of their plans irrespective of our wants and desires. If he made an error it was not stating earlier that Altior may not run if the ground were to be softer than they would have liked. Had he said that there would have been no issue whatsoever. We live in this world of 24 hour news and demand regular updates but is that fair to push that onto Henderson? He is 70 after all and operated in an era before social media, blogs, tweets etc.. Yes it’s annoying to lose a bet and yes we’re disappointed not to see Altior run but it is only that: annoying - and I would expect short lived at that. We know Henderson is a cautious trainer. We know he focuses on those fours days in March. He’s a top trainer and a gentleman and we should enjoy him whilst we have him.

Let’s move on.

[Pendil]

Can anybody tell me what the graded open chase options over2 ml are in England between now and the New Year. I am more interested for PTKO than bloody Altior. I want to see if she has options other than taking on CPS and Notebook in the G1 @ Leopardstown over Christmas

[Quevega]

Can anybody tell me what the graded open chase options over2 ml are in England between now and the New Year. I am more interested for PTKO than bloody Altior. I want to see if she has options other than taking on CPS and Notebook in the G1 @ Leopardstown over Christmas

at 2 miles.

desert orchid at kempton at xmas has been mentioned, its a grade 2,
then theres the clarence house grade 1 at ascot in january.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_National_Hunt_races

[The King Pimm]

Looking at the way Henderson’s other horses ran over the weekend in the ground it was probably a wise decision not to run Altior. A number of his high profile horses struggled and bombed and it maybe be that there is something a miss or not right at the stables or they are all behind in their work and he didn’t want to risk Altiors reputation. Paros, Grand Mogul and Mister Coffey looked knackered with a furlong to go in their races. Soft ground aside maybe something is not right at seven barrows or they are not as fit as they need to be to cope with those conditions??

[Dessie the great]

Can anybody tell me what the graded open chase options over2 ml are in England between now and the New Year. I am more interested for PTKO than bloody Altior. I want to see if she has options other than taking on CPS and Notebook in the G1 @ Leopardstown over Christmas

Lepardstown at Christmas or Kempton at Christmas have been mentioned as her next run as far as I know. She will have to take on Cgacun or Altior in one of those so we will find out more about her.

A close 2nd to either would suffice for me as there will be more improvement to come at her age. Kempton would be right handed, something she hasnt done too often. Henry probably try and keep her, notebook and a plus tard apart

[robith]

I have to say I think there has been a big over reaction against Nicky Henderson. I have to say from my perspective, he always come across as such a gentleman and we’re lucky to have someone of his talents plying their trade here in the UK. He is the winning most UK trainer at the festival, a festival which we all love. There will come a time in the not too distant future, now that he’s 70, when he won’t be training anymore and when that day comes the sport will be the poorer for it. I for one hope he carries on for as long as possible. His class, as reflected in his polite and professional conduct, is pretty rare these days.

I think it is safe to say, irrespective of what the official going was or what the times were, that he and his informed team thought he ground was worse than indicated and ultimately worse than they wanted for Altior’s first run of the season. He took the best decision for the horse’s outlook for the remainder of the season and for that he should be commended. He was concerned about the horse’s wellbeing although I think he might have mistakenly used the term welfare.

Trainers are under no obligation to divulge all or any of their thinking or all of their plans irrespective of our wants and desires. If he made an error it was not stating earlier that Altior may not run if the ground were to be softer than they would have liked. Had he said that there would have been no issue whatsoever. We live in this world of 24 hour news and demand regular updates but is that fair to push that onto Henderson? He is 70 after all and operated in an era before social media, blogs, tweets etc.. Yes it’s annoying to lose a bet and yes we’re disappointed not to see Altior run but it is only that: annoying - and I would expect short lived at that. We know Henderson is a cautious trainer. We know he focuses on those fours days in March. He’s a top trainer and a gentleman and we should enjoy him whilst we have him.

Let’s move on.

Henderson is the horses trainer and he can as you say do as he likes.

What is grating is that yet again he has made no mention of an issue in a blog for a bookmaker who are paying him substantial bunse, get rattled when the public is yet again ranked by this and come out and start lying.

Hes Altior's trainer and as far as I'm concerned can use him to plough his fields if he sees so fit. But yet again that Unibet connection is proving to be rotten.

[SharpHat]

I have to say I think there has been a big over reaction against Nicky Henderson. I have to say from my perspective, he always come across as such a gentleman and we’re lucky to have someone of his talents plying their trade here in the UK. He is the winning most UK trainer at the festival, a festival which we all love. There will come a time in the not too distant future, now that he’s 70, when he won’t be training anymore and when that day comes the sport will be the poorer for it. I for one hope he carries on for as long as possible. His class, as reflected in his polite and professional conduct, is pretty rare these days.

I think it is safe to say, irrespective of what the official going was or what the times were, that he and his informed team thought he ground was worse than indicated and ultimately worse than they wanted for Altior’s first run of the season. He took the best decision for the horse’s outlook for the remainder of the season and for that he should be commended. He was concerned about the horse’s wellbeing although I think he might have mistakenly used the term welfare.

Trainers are under no obligation to divulge all or any of their thinking or all of their plans irrespective of our wants and desires. If he made an error it was not stating earlier that Altior may not run if the ground were to be softer than they would have liked. Had he said that there would have been no issue whatsoever. We live in this world of 24 hour news and demand regular updates but is that fair to push that onto Henderson? He is 70 after all and operated in an era before social media, blogs, tweets etc.. Yes it’s annoying to lose a bet and yes we’re disappointed not to see Altior run but it is only that: annoying - and I would expect short lived at that. We know Henderson is a cautious trainer. We know he focuses on those fours days in March. He’s a top trainer and a gentleman and we should enjoy him whilst we have him.

Let’s move on.

Except when they're literally paid to do exactly that, in a blog by a bookmaker

[The King Pimm]

Have any you got CPS covered with much so far? He’s such a hard bet to pull the trigger on. I can NRNB coming in later this season, even on the championship races. If and when it does come in how much will you put on CPS or is he a horse worth leaving until the day??