Henderson trio set for Triumph outing

Nicky Henderson has narrowed his six possibles for next week`s JCB Triumph Hurdle down to a final line-up of three.

Lord Joshua, Volano and Non So will all take their chances in next week`s Stg#90,000 contest, the curtain-raiser on Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup day, the final afternoon of the meeting.

Henderson is the only current trainer to have won the race _ which is being sponsored for the first time this year by construction giant JCB _ on three occasions, taking the spoils with First Bout (1985), Alone Success (1987) and Katarino (1999).

As such he is a man qualified like no other to offer his opinion about what it takes to win the frantic 30-runner contest which so often proves to be a minefield for already-impoverished Cheltenham punters.

And Henderson thinks that all three of his charges are equipped to run big races.

'When I had six in the bumper at Newbury on Saturday I was wondering whether they could race in a line and block off the others but I don`t think it would work with only three at Cheltenham,' he joked.

'The three winners of the Triumph that I have had before all turned out to be horses who were thorough stayers and who wanted two and a half miles - three in the case of Katarino - over fences.

'You`ve got to stay, it`s the one thing that you must do.

'I`ve now had four horses who have been favourite at one time or another for the race and now I have none!

'Sadly, Prizeman has gone wrong and I had hoped it might turn out that he was the best of the lot but that`s racing.'

The pick of the trio may turn out to be Lord Joshua, who cost a pretty penny at auction after winning on the Flat for Gerard Butler, and is now owned by Mrs William Farish, the wife of the American ambassador to Britain.

Lord Joshua made his hurdling debut at Kempton under stable jockey Mick Fitzgerald last month but failed to impress with his jumping and finished third.

But it was a different horse who came out at Newbury and won last Friday, taking his obstacles like a natural.

'I was disappointed with him at Kempton,' said Henderson. 'Not with his position but with his jumping.

'He`d always jumped well at home then he got to the first and made a complete horlicks of it _ it flummoxed him and he just lost his lines.

'But he was very professional at Newbury and the 13-day gap between the races should be just right, he didn`t have a hard race and he should come on again for it.

'These colts fool us every year, we only have two in the yard but you keep forgetting how much work they need, you go and run them and they blow up.

'This poor fellow`s reward will probably be to be gelded at the end of the season as his future is very much in chases, but I suppose if he won the Triumph by a street he might be retired to stud so he could save himself from the chop _ I`ll have to tell him!'

The other colt in the yard apart from Lord Joshua is Volano, the one-time favourite for the race who disappointed when beaten by Kirat at Sandown last time out.

But Henderson explained: 'Mick was worried about it being a muddling race last time out but I wanted him to get practice of jumping hurdles behind other horses to get him used to being in the pack.

'In the race they went no pace and Mick felt he should have kicked on earlier than he did - he basically came back and said `I told you so`.

'Volano is a son of Pistolet Bleu, a sire we have done very well with, and it is a great shame that he died recently.

'Non So is owned by a syndicate put together by the Racehorse Owners` Association and I hope they have a great day out.

'He might not be the classiest horse in the race but I`m not sure how good a bunch of four-year-olds they are this year and he`ll be staying on when others have given up.

'The situation with jockeys is that Mick is going to have a sit on Volano this week and then make his mind up.'

In other news from the stable, Henderson reported that Blue Royal is now a 'longshot' forthe Irish Independent Arkle Chase while Tiutchev continues to make rapid progress from his recent bout of colic.

'It was 25-75 last week but he is improving all the time,' said Henderson.

'We will keep monitoring his progress and make a decision as late as possible.'