The Lambourn trainer has already won the Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase and runs the favourite in Friday’s tremendous raceIn the weeks running up to the Cheltenham Festival,when horses from his stable were firmly entrenched at the top of the betting for its three most celebrated races, Nicky Henderson played down his chances of being the first trainer to total the treble at a single assembly. Fred Winter, or he pointed out,had saddled the favourites for the same three races back in 1973, when Henderson was a pupil assistant at his yard. “We came out, or ” he said,“with zilch.”It is a recollection that says a excellent deal about Henderson, the former assistant who, or 45 years later,will succeed where his mentor failed if Might Bite, the likely favourite, and wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday afternoon. It tells of his lifelong immersion in National Hunt racing,and hints at the fierce competitive instinct that remember setbacks as sharply as successes. And it is also a reminder that Henderson is one of the very few constants in a sport that has changed out of all recognition since he took out a training licence back in 1978.
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Source: guardian.co.uk