Itâs one of the great days in racing today as itâs Mr Hendersonâs birthday! As a result I'm sure that everyone, and I do mean everyone, will join me in wishing the forum's favourite trainer the most wonderfuliest of birthdays and also hoping that he has the very best of health, happiness and success over the course of the next 12 months. Mr Henderson is, of course, not only the forumâs favourite trainer but also the shining star of our sport, the most instantly recognisable and respected figure on the racecourse and the man whoâs visage appears under the word âgentlemanâ in the dictionary. He is also the perfect role model for aspiring trainers because his honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, gentlemanly behaviour and race record is something for every fledgling handler to aspire too. If you asked most people to guess the great man's age then I'm sure they would say 'late 30's or early 40's' but the amazing truth is that today Mr Henderson is 64! I say 64! It would be fitting for the great man to have a dozen winners today but unfortunately that looks unlikely as he hasnât got any runners! Still for a man capable of miracles who knows and anything could be possible. However, one thing that he surely does deserve, and Iâll whisper it quietly may well get, is a Knighthood in the âNew Yearâs Honours Listâ. And now that we have a racing man, and a great man to boot, at âNumber 10â such an accolade must be forthcoming. The name âSir Mr Hendersonâ most deffo has a certain ring to it and Iâd recommend members practiced saying it... In the meantime though I ask that everyone charge their glasses and join in the toast, âHappy Birthday, Mr Henderson. May God bless him and save himâ.
Sir Nicky. Sir Nicky. Sir Nicky. Happy birthday mate. And please don't worry about those poor drugged racehorses, I'm sure they are over it all by now.
Hip hip hooray and a happy birthday to Mr. Henderson. Sir Mr. Henderson really does trip off the old tongue, almost as well as The Right Honourable Mr David Pipe
Ste, as far as I’m aware neither of the current ‘Sirs’ on the Flat (Stoute and Prescott) got their ‘title’ as a result of horse racing. Sir Henry did, of course, Knighted by Mr Cameron in one of his first acts as PM. NH racing is though due one and who better than Mr Henderson. Mr Nicholls would be worthy of a title as he’s a great ambassador for our sport and someone who has conquered almost every height. Oddy, I could think of a few title’s for the Pipe’s but if I typed them I’m sure I’d be banned... Cyc, what on earth is a question about racehorse doping doing on a thread about Mr Henderson?!? It’s like putting a poser about the Champions League on the Tottingham forum.
Happy birthday Sir Nick. I'm so glad the ol G n T guzzler wasn't born 15 days later as Sir Barney would be trying to convince his regular readers that Hendo was actually the second coming.
Sorry Sir Barney. I apologize my friend. When it comes to the hunt preparation of the noble equine, the above mentioned Mr. Henderson knows few peers.
I am sure a few glasses were raised and if anyone left any in those glasses I am sure someone would have gone around and finished them off.
It's only his vets that keep getting struck off Cyc. Nicky the Posh Dipso is blameless apparently. Incidentally, please don't get the impression that all us Brits spend our time fawning over the upper classes. Some of us would quite like to take a lesson from our Gallic cousins and drag a guillotine into Paternoster Square, "pour encourager les autres", as the saying goes.
Is Mr Henderson a member of the ‘upper class’. Surely not I would have thought. He’s working class just like almost everyone in the country. The graft that he has put in over the years to build up his ‘business’ surely confirms this. On class one thing that always makes me chuckle uncontrollably is those who describe themselves as ‘middle class’. What on earth does ‘middle class’ mean?!? Ask 50 different people and you’d get 50 different answers. It’s one of those expressions which has crept into regular usage yet is totally, totally meaningless and has no real definition. I’ve always been of the opinion that anyone who thinks they are ‘middle class’ are pretentious beyond words, pompous, totally deluded and up themselves like you would not believe. The reality is that 99.99% of us are working class. The small majority that are left can be called ‘upper class’. Now the old guillotine could come out re a few of them...
In the Marxist analysis society is a market, and class is about property; if you are working class you have nothing to sell but your skills and labour. Of course the world has changed a lot since Karl Marx was alive.Property ownership is now widespread, hence the burgeoning middle class, or petit bourgeoisie as he called them. My mum's definition was as follows; if you have to work,you're working class. Not if you choose to mind, only if you have to. The upper classes often work, but they don't have to - they make far more from their inherited investments than they could expect to earn in any profession outside banking.
I think your Mum had it about right Archers 'if you need work to survive you are working class' . What happened is that somewhere along the line someone decided that a manual worker who traded on his sweat and toil was now working class where as someone who was paid for their acumen or expertise and so worked with their head was now middle class. Of course this is rubbish as if you work because you need to earn a wage you cannot be considered anything but working class.
Was anybody able to read SBC's 'Ode to Nicky 'The Needle' Henderson' whilst keeping a straight face?! One of the finest posts of the year.
