Talking Horses: BHA urges Nicky Henderson to clarify Altior plans

In a startling development, racing’s ruling body announced on Wednesday evening that Altior was still entered in Saturday’s Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton, despite Nicky Henderson having ruled him out of the race on Tuesday. The British Horseracing Authority added that it would be sending a vet to Henderson’s Lambourn stable on Thursday to examine Altior and urged the trainer to clarify his plans for the horse “as soon as he can”.

Meanwhile, social media is still alive with comment about the way that Tuesday’s news about Altior was revealed, through a blog on a bookmaker’s website, after the Henderson-trained Top Notch had been backed for Saturday’s race. But on the face of it, Wednesday’s intervention by the BHA is unrelated to any such concerns.

Instead, what bothers them is that Henderson has not yet scratched Altior from the Kempton race, despite having left no room for doubt on Tuesday that the horse would miss it. “Altior will not run” said a tweet in Henderson’s name while the man himself later discussed his thinking on RacingTV, saying: “Altior doesn’t look like Altior … We are going to give ourselves a bit of time.”

The BHA evidently takes the view that when a trainer makes such an unequivocal statement about a horse missing a race, they should simultaneously be withdrawing the horse’s entry. If the trainer is not prepared to do that, he should be building some room for doubt into his public statements.

It’s interesting that, when the BHA contacted Henderson on Wednesday, he did not respond by saying: “Ah, sorry, that was an oversight, I’ll get on to Weatherbys and scratch him.” As a result, Altior is still, as of Thursday morning, a possible runner at Kempton this weekend.

It is that possibility that has moved the BHA to send a vet to look at Altior; a BHA spokesman clarified to me that, in light of this week’s news, they want to be satisfied the horse would be fit to race if he did actually turn up at Kempton. But I’m surprised they saw the need to do such a thing because Henderson told RTV: “I don’t think there is anything wrong with him. There was nothing wrong with his blood yesterday.” That being the case, what could the BHA vet expect to find?

But I do think the BHA is right to hold connections to account for public statements about plans for high-profile horses. If racing wants to hold onto its audience, clarity on such matters is going to be increasingly important.

That is a potential stumbling block for an intuitive trainer like Henderson, who, as I see it, is happy to communicate his thinking provided he has the option to change his mind if a horse starts giving him different signals. No one minds that, provided he tells us that he is actually keeping his options open.

Separately, the BHA really should be investigating who it was that backed Top Notch before the Altior news broke on Tuesday. It is entirely natural for racing followers to worry that inside information may have been misused; the ruling body should be examining that possibility and should be assuring us that it is doing so.

Thursday’s best bets

It’s North Yorkshire Grand National day at Catterick and I’m hoping that Little Bruce (2.40) can justify his position as favourite for the big race, which has attracted a motley crew of mostly exposed runners. The youngest in the line-up, he improved through his novice season and should be sharper for a hurdles reappearance 11 days ago, when he ran a fair third.

Philip Kirby is in rare form, with six winners from 32 runners in the past fortnight. Little Bruce has seemed to relish a test of stamina and looks the one to beat, though odds of 9-4 give little away.

There is some 7-2 available about Geordielandgangsta (1.35) in the novice handicap chase earlier. This step up in trip was strongly indicated by his third place at Newcastle last month and the switch to fencing should also help Rose Dobbin’s former pointer.

Sadly, the jumps card at Leicester has been abandoned due to waterlogging.

Newcastle 12.15 Flat To The Max 12.45 Double Martini 1.20 High Fort 1.55 Dark Regard 2.25 Indian Raj 3.00 London Arch 3.30 Corked 4.05 Clareyblue

Catterick 12.25 Pour Me A Drink 1.00 Massini’s Dream 1.35 Geordielandgangsta (nb) 2.05 Pileon 2.40 Little Bruce (nap) 3.10 Nefyn Point 3.45 Captain Woodie

Leicester 1.10 Wenceslaus 1.45 Wells De Lune 2.15 Litterale Ci 2.50 Lightly Squeeze 3.20 Quantum Of Solace 3.55 Stolen Silver

Chelmsford 4.00 Coviglia 4.30 Roca Magica 5.00 Avorisk Et Perils 5.30 Agent Shiftwell 6.00 Cheng Gong 6.30 Phoenix Star 7.00 Arabian Moon 

source: theguardian.com