Nicky Henderson: Shishkin "not certain" to run in Desert Orchid

Shishkin is among five entries for the £100,000 Ladbrokes Desert Orchid Chase – but he is by no means a certain runner.

Nicky Henderson had hoped to start off his season in the Tingle Creek at Sandown earlier this month, but felt last season’s Arkle winner was slightly off colour and he subsequently returned a dirty scope.

Shishkin returned to fast work last week and Henderson felt he needed one more strong gallop before he could give him the green light for Kempton.

That happened on Tuesday morning and while all went to plan, the seven-year-old is to have a schooling session and a further gallop before his trainer commits to a run in Monday’s Grade Two feature.

Henderson told Unibet: “Shishkin worked on the all-weather this morning and everything went according to plan, so after discussing it with Nico (de Boinville) and owner Joe Donnelly, we have decided that it makes perfect sense to enter him in the Desert Orchid Chase – but at this stage it is only provisional and he’s by no means certain to run there.

“Everything has gone well with him and he appears in good form at home, but he’ll school on Thursday and have another spin on Saturday by which time we will have a much clearer idea as to whether we run on Monday or wait a few more weeks for the Clarence House at Ascot. The good thing is we aren’t short of options and still have plenty of time and the Clarence House is always a nice race to win.

“Many will say it’s ‘Henderson sitting on the fence again’ and I’m afraid they are right. The horse’s health, fitness and wellbeing is my only priority.

“Thankfully his trachea washes have all been clean and hopefully we are turning a corner, but he won’t run unless I am 100 per cent happy with him.

“He’s never the most flashy in his work but I must admit he did put in a good piece this morning, which is obviously a very positive sign.

“I wish I could offer a more definitive answer as to whether he goes to Kempton but at this stage I simply cannot rule it in or out.”

Henderson believes that Chantry House will have to take a step up on what he showed as a novice and be “very sharp” if he is to win what looks a red hot renewal of the Grade One Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.

The Seven Barrows trainer has won the prestigious three-mile contest three times in his career with Long Run (2010, 2012) and Might Bite (2017). And, describing it as “the second most important classic chase of the season”, Henderson has confirmed he hopes to run both Chantry House and Mister Fisher in his bid to win it for a third time.

Explaining the significance of the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase – the second leg of The Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown, which includes the Betfair Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup – he said: “We’ve had some very good days in the King George, we’ve won it and had some unlucky ones a few times and to me it’s the second most important classic chase of the season

“It’s the classic for the first half of the season, so not surprisingly it’s a race that everybody wants to win. It’s a race with a terrific history, I can remember the days of Arkle which makes me pretty ancient!”

Seven year old Chantry House enjoyed a glittering first campaign over the larger obstacles last term, winning at both the Cheltenham Festival and the following month’s Randox Grand National Festival, and will arrive at Kempton Park on the back of a commanding victory on reappearance at Sandown Park last month.

However, that most recent success saw Chantry House defeat just one rival and Henderson is under no illusions that his charge will need to find another gear in a race which is set to include last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Minella Indo, two-time King George winner Clan Des Obeaux and Frodon who was triumphant in the race 12 months ago.

Henderson said: “He’s been very good since his run at Sandown. It was a two horse race though, which proved nothing to anybody who was looking for a fault or anything. He went round in a very respectable time considering he was doing it on his own, so you couldn’t be happier with him, while he had a spin on a racecourse which really woke him up last week.

“You’re going to have to be very sharp here. Three miles around Kempton is different and my plus for him is that until Aintree last season he was doing all of his racing and winning over two and a half miles, including round Kempton, so he’s not a slow three mile horse.

“We upped him to three miles at Aintree and he got it well and although it was a ‘solo’ around Sandown last month he was very good. We haven’t taught him to be a three miler but he has got natural pace – if you can go two and a half miles you’ve got some – and with that it helps you around Kempton because they’ll go quick. If they’re going quicker than Frodon they’ll be going too quick, but the good thing about Chantry is that pace isn’t going to frighten him.

“He’s only just out of novice company, so I would say that he will need to step up on last year. We’re taking on Gold Cup winners and previous King George winners and we don’t know anything about those coming out of novice company. He didn’t beat anything at Sandown but I’m not complaining about that, we’ve often used the Ladbrokes Trophy for our second season chasers but we rather felt that it wasn’t the place for him.

“If you’re thinking you have a King George horse you’d be hoping to progress to a Gold Cup. He’s a very laid back horse, which I think is in his favour, and I’m not worried that he isn’t quick enough.”

When asked about his views on the opposition this Sunday, Henderson admitted you can make cases for most of Chantry House’s rivals.

He explained: “I’ve got respect for everyone in the field, but I still think that the Gold Cup is undoubtedly the best guide. You’d always say the best guide to the Derby is the Guineas and if you’re coming into this I think last year’s Gold Cup winner is the horse we’ve all got to watch. Frodon as we all know is a tough old devil - he’s very hard to beat and you could have a lot of solutions so it’s a great race on paper.

“Willie (Mullins) is going to come over with a couple and Asterion Forlonge is pretty smart too – I know he tipped up the other day but he ran a pretty good race. He belongs to Joe Donnelly who owns Shishkin, so I know the horse quite well. He is a good horse though and I think he could be a challenger.”

Henderson could well be double-handed in the Grade One contest and will send out Mister Fisher, who got within a neck of Frodon when last seen on a racecourse at Sandown Park in April, if he impresses on the gallops today (Tuesday 21st December).

His trainer explained: “We’ve had some issues with Mister Fisher and his work was uncharacteristically lacklustre. I called in the vets two months ago and he had a fibrillating heart, which is not a nice problem to have. We got this corrected reasonably quickly after about three days, but it put us on the back foot and you’ve got to make up for that. The Mister Fisher we know is back now though, it’s incredible and you wouldn’t believe it was possible.

“I would have liked to have gone from the Peterborough Chase to the King George with him. To me the Peterborough was always a race that’s made for him and although we couldn’t get there he’s a horse that has flown back into the picture.

“It’s a pretty unorthodox preparation, I have to say. He’s very good though and he looked as though he had Frodon beaten at Sandown on the last day of last season, so there’s not a lot of difference between the two. I’ve always wanted to try him over three miles but he needs to come through a gallop on Tuesday morning if he is to run. I know James and Jean Potter are keen to run and if he works really well he will run - and James Bowen will be on him.”

Boxing Day’s Kempton Park card also includes the Grade One Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle, in which Epatante is aiming to add to her victory in 2019. Tritonic could also line up for Henderson following her success in Saturday’s Grade Three Betfair Hurdle at Ascot.

The seven year old was defeated in this race 12 months ago, but she made a winning reappearance when dead-heating with Not So Sleepy in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle earlier this month. And Henderson feels she is in a good place, adding that Nico de Boinville will step in for the suspended Aidan Coleman.

He said: “I’m very happy after Newcastle, everything up to that point had gone well and as you could see she travelled well and jumped beautifully. She just had a little bit of a bumpy passage from the second last to the last flight and while we’ll settle for a dead heat, the most pleasing thing was the way that she had run, travelled and jumped.

“Her hallmark is her jumping and that’s where she was when she won the Fighting Fifth last year. That was missing at Kempton last year but I am very happy with where we are. Aidan Coleman is banned, so Nico dbe Boinville will be riding her.

“Tritonic is interesting on the back of a very good run in a competitive race on Sunday. It’s a quick turnaround here for a four year old possibly but he’s a very high-class horse. Not So Sleepy dead heated with us last time so we’ve got a little score to settle, but I’m sad to see no Silver Streak this year and I send my commiserations to everyone. He’s been a terrific servant and it’s very sad what happened.”

When asked about Epatante’s chances of regaining her Champion Hurdle crown next March, Henderson conceded that last season’s winner Honeysuckle will take some stopping.

He added: “My gut feeling is that she could be back and I’m not going to come out with excuses anyway. Based on her demeanour I just think she’s back, her work is good and she’s in a good place, so we’re happy with where we are. She didn’t need to go to a racecourse last week as she’d had a good race at Newcastle and it’s all gone almost too smoothly since.

“You wouldn’t want to see the Epatante that went to Kempton last year if she’s still to be a player in this division. I’m not going up there lined up with excuses, I’m hoping for the best and I’ve always said that her season was all about the Fighting Fifth and the Christmas Hurdle, because after that we’re almost certainly going to bump into Honeysuckle.

“She is something different and if we can get these two races in the bag we’ll have achieved what we set out to for this year. We’re not going to lie down and we could even try two and a half (miles) in the Mares’ Hurdle – but I’m yet to mention it with anyone. Is she going to beat Honeysuckle? The answer is probably no – regardless of what she does at Kempton.”

Nicky Henderson remains open-minded on where the unbeaten Jonbon will be seen before Cheltenham.

A full-brother to the mighty Douvan, the JP McManus-owned five-year-old cost £570,000 at the sales – and has so far looked value for money, even at that hefty price tag.

His debut under rules came in a bumper at Newbury in March and he impressed first time out over hurdles back at the Berkshire circuit last month.

A much sterner test appeared to await at Ascot last week in the Kennel Gate Novices’ Hurdle, but he came through that Grade Two assignment with flying colours to cement his position at the top of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle market.

Next in the Festival betting is stablemate Constitution Hill, who made a real splash at Sandown earlier this month. But while his next target has been identified, a race is not proving as easy to find for Jonbon.

Henderson said: “I think Constitution Hill will go back to Sandown for the Tolworth, he’s a two-miler. I’ve no idea with Jonbon, he’ll only want one run (before Cheltenham). It isn’t easy, I have had a look – you go through January and even at Cheltenham in January there’s no two-mile trial.

“It’s not obvious, there’s nothing really obvious at the end of January, beginning of February sort of period. That’s where I’d like a run. There are no doubt races you can run in, but there’s also places I wouldn’t want to go with him. He’s come out of the race really well.”

Balco Coastal is another to have taken the eye over two miles this season for Seven Barrows, and he heads to Ludlow on Wednesday.

“The owners live up there and I think it will do the horse good to have one more,” Henderson said.

“There’s a few others in the pipeline, like King Ottokar. There’s a horse called Surfman who ran in the French Derby, he was a very good horse on the Flat (for Roger Varian). He has had a history of problems, but he’s a lovely horse.

“There’s quite a few of our bumper horses that had a few niggly things last year that I think are in the top bracket. We haven’t seen them yet, so there’s a bit more to come before we decide who goes where.

“I’d be very surprised if Jonbon or Constitution Hill weren’t two-milers, so they’ve got to try to stay apart. Some of the others might well be in the two-and-a-half-mile division, that would be a help if they were rather than two-milers. But if we have to run six in the Supreme, fine!”