ENGLISH TEXTS
TRAINER NICKY HENDERSON, SO BRITISH
BY KATHERINE FORD
For more than 40 years, he has embodied the very essence of English NH racing, and the Cheltenham Festival in particular. Dressed in tweed, wearing a brown Borsalino that has undoubtedly witnessed more Gold Cups than some of his rivals, smiling as he chats with owners, friends, and rival trainers, Nicky Henderson is at home in Cheltenham.
If Nicky Henderson has such a connection with the temple of English NH racing, it may not be by chance, as his father, Johnny Henderson, co-founded the“ Racecourse Holdings Group,” which became“ Jockey Club Racecourses” in the 1960s, and the group purchased the Cheltenham site to secure its future. Born in December 1950, Nicholas John“ Nicky” Henderson was nevertheless not destined to win a record nine Champion Hurdles and become Champion Trainer in Great Britain six times. His father was passionate about NH racing, but not a racing professional. Nicky attended the very prestigious Eton College before joining his father as a stockbroker in London. In an interview with the Financial Times, the trainer explains:“ I thought I was destined for a career in the City, alongside my father, who really understood finan- cial matters. That wasn’ t the case for me. On the contrary, I was drawn to horses, which had always been part of my family life.” After two years in finance, Nicky Henderson left London to undertake agricultural training, and during his studies at the Royal Agricultural College, he frequented the yard of the legendary Fred Winter, where he later became assistant from 1973 to 1978. Winner of 75 races as a gentleman-rider, he took out his trainer’ s licence in 1978 at Lambourn.“ My father thought that training racehorses was a sure path to financial ruin, but we survived.” Nicky Henderson has done more than survive: he has won everything( except the Grand National at Aintree), and above all at Cheltenham, where for many years he was the record-holding trainer before being overtaken by the Irish steamroller Willie Mullins in 2018. He now totals 75 victories at the Festival arena. Among his greatest feats, the crack See You Then achieved a hat-trick of Champion Hurdles between 1985 and 1987.“ He’ s the one who got everything started,” Henderson explains in an article in the Irish Field. In 1992, Nicky Henderson moved into his current yard at Seven Barrows near Lambourn,“ an incredible place, with everything you need, just for us,” and even though he had to wait until the 2012 / 2013 season for another Champion Trainer title, he has always remained part of the sport’ s elite. His closeness to his horses is legendary. British television invariably seeks him out in the stands for every major race, and even though he now has eyesight problems, he lives the performances of his horses to the full and is often found with a tear in his eye. Known for his patience and his ability to keep horses going as they age, he does not hesitate to run only when it is( very) worthwhile, mainly targeting the Cheltenham Festival. Sprinter Sacré is a perfect example. In six years of racing, he ran 24 times for 18 wins, including two final victories at the age of ten in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Celebration Chase( Gr. 1). Ten years later, Nicky Henderson did not hesitate to act when an online fundraiser appeared, and caused a scandal on social media in January, to finance veterinary care for the retired Sprinter Sacré. The trainer reacted immediately:“ This fundraiser was launched without our knowledge, along with his former owner. Sprinter is currently with our vet at the clinic and we will cover all the costs.” Nicky Henderson has also lived through and shared the ups and downs of the champion Constitution Hill, to the point of it becoming a saga for jump-racing fans. Considered potentially the Greatest Hurdler of all time, Constitution Hill made a sensation by winning his first ten races, nine of them at the highest level, including of course a Champion Hurdle
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