Something that may have slipped underneath the old radar amid all the hullabaloo and razzmatazz of the Aintree Festival is that following his success in yesterdayâs âManifesto Novicesâ Chaseâ Mr Henderson has trained Captain Conan to win 4 Grade 1 races within 15 months. This is an absolutely amazing achievements and huge testament to both his skills in training a racehorse and his placement of said animal as Iâm sure everyone will agree that Captain Conan is not the greatest beast ever to trod the old turf. To win 1 or even 2 such races with the old boy would have been good, 3 amazing, but 4, what can I say, Astounding with a capital âAâ is the only word for it. I truly am in awe of Mr Hendersonâs handling of Captain Conan and would go so far as to say it could be his greatest ever training performance and, in fact, the greatest in living memory. Next term, outside of the novice sphere, will probably be a very tough one for Captain Conan (is available at 20âs for the 2014 Champion Chase and 16/1 for next termâs Ryanair) but right now letâs celebrate his achievements and that of Mr Henderson â who in this instance has trained and placed the horse to absolute perfection. Well done old boy, say I.
