Has Nicky Henderson lost his mojo?

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OddDog

OddDog

Mild mannered janitor
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Jun 2, 2011
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First of all I have huge respect for Nicky Henderson and everything he has achieved in Horse Racing and this article is in no way intended to diminish his legacy. But in recent weeks and months I have started to wonder whether he is no longer the force of old, whether his eye is becoming a little jaundiced and his judgement not what it was?

Point 1 - bare form

So far in December he has had 5 winners from 34 runners and some of the runs have been an absolute mystery - particularly Jeriko Du Reponet (both chasing and hurdling) and That's Nice. Since Jonbon's Tingle Creek victory he has had 5 odds-on shots and all have been beaten and this feels to me like more than just "having a lean spell".

Point 2 - The whole Constitution Hill saga

Wholly unsatisfactory how the last 12 months have developed here and I do wonder how much of this is down to Henderson wrapping the horse in cotton wool? Having made his rules debut at Sandown 3 years ago we have seen him just 7 more times on the track - so 8 runs in 3 years. In his novice season he ran just 3 times (Sandown, Sandown, Supreme), the season after just 4 (Fighting Fifth, Christmas Hurdle, Champion Hurdle, Aintree Hurdle) and then of course just the once last season. This is probably a criticism we can throw at nearly all modern trainers but Henderson does seem to be one of the main perpetrators.

Point 3 - Age

This does, unfortunately, catch up with all of us and whilst Henderson is 5 years younger than Sir Michael Stoute, he doesn't seem to be ageing as well as him (maybe less time spent in the Caribbean?). I think it is important to know when to call it a day and I just hope Henderson doesn't decide to drag things on for the sake if it if he does think he can't cut it any more.

As I said at the start of this, I am a huge fan of Nicky Henderson and his achievements in Horse Racing make him one of the all-time greats. He can still get top horses ready for their big day - witness Jango Baie yesterday - but is his time coming to an end?

I'm sure @Sir Barney Chuckles will have plenty to say on the subject ;)
 
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I don't actually disagree with anything you have written. Look obviously age is going to catch up with him (just like it will everyone) and the old boy probably will, health permitting, only keep going for another 5-10 years. But if Lieutenant Henderson surrounds himself with loyal and able deputies and top level staff (he's done this throughout his career so I can't see this ceasing to be the case overnight) then they should be able to offset some of the load from his shoulders. The big decisions will always remain his and his alone but that magical word 'delegation' can help him enormously moving forward.

Lieutenant Henderson has over the course of the past week or so soared into 5th place in the Trainers Championship and it will surely only be a matter of time till he leaps Olly Murphy and Nige Twiston-Davies into 3rd (less than £50k in arrears of both). The 2 above him (Mr Nicholls and 'Burly Dan' - I loved this nickname, incidentally, when I read it on the forum the other day) should be much, much, much harder to catch and so should old boy WP when he starts trying to seriously defend his title. But an at worst 4th place in the Trainers Championship wouldn't be a terrible result, would it???

I'd be very surprised if short-term stable form didn't right itself sooner rather than later - and with a pair of Grade 1's in the bag, since the end of November, its hardly terrible anyway!!! Meanwhile, I wouldn't be surprised if the Stewards ordered 'routine test' on the above mentioned, That's Nice, highlights some sort of bug / medical reason for her poor performance on Friday.

Just to touch on Constitution Hill I think his performances peaked in him winning the 2022 Supreme Novices' and Fighting Fifth - I do not believe that any of the geldings 4 subsequent runs after Newcastle have been up to this level. Some may think his a dappy comment as the subsequent wins included a Champion Hurdle victory (2023) but for me that pair of 2022 wins were by far the best that Constitution Hill has achieved. And furthermore if he lined up tomorrow, or in March, against a rerouted, from chasing, Ballyburn, I'd favour the Irish superstar of WP's.

In conclusion then I don't think the forum needs to fret any time soon about Lieutenant Henderson leaving the scene. My prediction is that the old boy will be around for a few years more (and maybe in the process will discover yet another superstar) doing what he does in the manner that no-one has ever done before...
 
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I don’t know about Henderson having lost his mojo, because he’s no different from all the other top trainers- he’s part of a super rich band of owners and trainers who are killing racing with their attitudes and obsession towards the Cheltenham Festival as the be all and end all of National Hunt Racing.
The end result is not only the “cotton wool approach “ but also the denigration and slow death of the remainder of the season’s racing.
Have you ever seen a December’s Cheltenham meeting like the one last week? The quantity and quality was appalling.
Also, it’s laughable that almost all the favourites for Cheltenham in March will have only run once before 2025, and probably only three or four times by the season’s end.
That’s not racing!
Perhaps they should try and emulate Dextra Dove which ran 32 races over fences alone, winning 17 handicaps; or Stalbridge Colonist which ran 15 times in one season, winning 11 races.
Not likely!
 
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Tamerlo said:
I don’t know about Henderson having lost his mojo, because he’s no different from all the other top trainers- he’s part of a super rich band of owners and trainers who are killing racing with their attitudes and obsession towards the Cheltenham Festival as the be all and end all of National Hunt Racing.
The end result is not only the “cotton wool approach “ but also the denigration and slow death of the remainder of the season’s racing.
Have you ever seen a December’s Cheltenham meeting like the one last week? The quantity and quality was appalling.
Also, it’s laughable that almost all the favourites for Cheltenham in March will have only run once before 2025, and probably only three or four times by the season’s end.
That’s not racing!
Perhaps they should try and emulate Dextra Dove which ran 32 races over fences alone, winning 17 handicaps; or Stalbridge Colonist which ran 15 times in one season, winning 11 races.
Not likely!
Click to expand...

I do agree Tam. I remember saying that Constitution Hill should have run in the Betfair Hurdle not only in his novice season but also the season after. Owners and Trainers won't change this "cotton wool" behaviour of their own volition, maybe it really is time to start thinking about a number of qualifying runs for the big races at the Cheltenham Festival? The down side of course is that horses could suffer if they have a small niggling setback and miss a chunk of the season and then not be able to qualify.

Anyway back to Mr Henderson, he has another odds-on shot running today in the shape of Crazierthandaisy ("interesting" name for a mare) in the 2.22 at Southwell - a very winnable looking heat. He then has a pile of unexposed entries at his beloved Newbury on Wednesday so let's see how he gets on there.
 
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OddDog said:
Anyway back to Mr Henderson, he has another odds-on shot running today in the shape of Crazierthandaisy ("interesting" name for a mare) in the 2.22 at Southwell - a very winnable looking heat. He then has a pile of unexposed entries at his beloved Newbury on Wednesday so let's see how he gets on there.
Click to expand...

Certainly suffering from a bout of 'seconditis' at the min, isn't he?!? Now 4 out of his last 5 runners have finished 2nd!!!

Meanwhile, those Newbury entries have only actually resulted in 4 declarations (in 3 races).
 
Sir Barney Chuckles said:
Meanwhile, those Newbury entries have only actually resulted in 4 declarations (in 3 races).
Click to expand...

Newbury Wednesday:
12.40 Mistress Emma 5/2 (bumper winner makes her hurdles debut after 902 days absence)
1.15 Kintail 4/1 (3rd of 3 on chase debut at Warwick 6 weeks ago but 115 might underestimate him. Kyntara looks the one to beat)
1.50 Marengo Bay 12/1 (2nd run, 7th of 11 on hurdles debut) and Nativehill 9/4 (won his second point but that looked a very weak race based on the subsequent exploits of the placed horses - makes rules debut here)

None of these 4 look likely to snap the losing streak IMHO.
 
Is there any news on Constitution Hill? I was under the impression that we would not be seeing him in a race again
 
An angle that lots of people aren't looking at is Nico. I was at Windsor yesterday and he is simply so weak on a horse, much worse in real life, literally has no drive in a finish. That aside, it is him thats feeding back gallops/race feedback. I would not be too harsh on Nicky's training methods. The Unibet link is an outlier thought, definitely some pandering to them which doesn't help the punter get the whole story about a horses wellbeing or plans.

James Bowen is probably Nickys 2nd Jockey and has a better strike rate than Nico with about half the rides. Take out the G1/G2 races and I am sure it looks worse for Nico.

Anyways, sometimes it not the Car or Mechanics fault, just simply an average Driver.
 
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gillamandango said:
An angle that lots of people aren't looking at is Nico. I was at Windsor yesterday and he is simply so weak on a horse, much worse in real life, literally has no drive in a finish. That aside, it is him thats feeding back gallops/race feedback. I would not be too harsh on Nicky's training methods. The Unibet link is an outlier thought, definitely some pandering to them which doesn't help the punter get the whole story about a horses wellbeing or plans.

James Bowen is probably Nickys 2nd Jockey and has a better strike rate than Nico with about half the rides. Take out the G1/G2 races and I am sure it looks worse for Nico.

Anyways, sometimes it not the Car or Mechanics fault, just simply an average Driver.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that very interesting input. He was spoiled with having Barry Geraghty for so many years and hasn’t really been able to replace him. I used to really like Nico ( loved his ride on Coneygree to win the Gold Cup) but agree with you he isn’t the strongest in a finish any more.
 
Tamerlo said:
I don’t know about Henderson having lost his mojo, because he’s no different from all the other top trainers- he’s part of a super rich band of owners and trainers who are killing racing with their attitudes and obsession towards the Cheltenham Festival as the be all and end all of National Hunt Racing.
The end result is not only the “cotton wool approach “ but also the denigration and slow death of the remainder of the season’s racing.
Have you ever seen a December’s Cheltenham meeting like the one last week? The quantity and quality was appalling.
Also, it’s laughable that almost all the favourites for Cheltenham in March will have only run once before 2025, and probably only three or four times by the season’s end.
That’s not racing!
Perhaps they should try and emulate Dextra Dove which ran 32 races over fences alone, winning 17 handicaps; or Stalbridge Colonist which ran 15 times in one season, winning 11 races.
Not likely!
Click to expand...

The PATTERN is killing the excitement of racing and I'd say killing racing and changing racehorses.

Training a horse to win one race a year in March is very different to training a horse for a season of races. The resulting horses will not be as tough.

And dare I say it Arkle could start his season with a run at Newbury, followed by a Cheltenham handicap, followed by the KG, a couple of races at Leopardstown before Cheltenham in March and a season's finale in The Whitbread.
 
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OddDog said:
Newbury Wednesday:
12.40 Mistress Emma 5/2 (bumper winner makes her hurdles debut after 902 days absence)
1.15 Kintail 4/1 (3rd of 3 on chase debut at Warwick 6 weeks ago but 115 might underestimate him. Kyntara looks the one to beat)
1.50 Marengo Bay 12/1 (2nd run, 7th of 11 on hurdles debut) and Nativehill 9/4 (won his second point but that looked a very weak race based on the subsequent exploits of the placed horses - makes rules debut here)

None of these 4 look likely to snap the losing streak IMHO.
Click to expand...

2PP3
Very poor indeed
 
Bustino74 said:
The PATTERN is killing the excitement of racing and I'd say killing racing and changing racehorses.

Training a horse to win one race a year in March is very different to training a horse for a season of races. The resulting horses will not be as tough.

And dare I say it Arkle could start his season with a run at Newbury, followed by a Cheltenham handicap, followed by the KG, a couple of races at Leopardstown before Cheltenham in March and a season's finale in The Whitbread.
Click to expand...

Good God, Bustino! You can’t expect trainers to let their class horses carry 12st 7lbs in a Hennessy handicap followed by 12st 10lbs in the Massey Ferguson a short time after!
They’d never be ready for the Festival in March. That’s cruel! <laugh>
 
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I think he might have turned the corner after a very slow start to the season. A very good treble at Kempton and both First Street and Hyland ran really good races in defeat. Another big day for him today and whilst Sir Gino will be the one Joe Donnelly will be focused on, his other runner with Henderson, Jet Powered, is fascinating and could be another "Lazarus project" for the master of Seven Barrows.
 
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