Henri The Second thrives in Sandown test
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Sat 31 Jan 2026
Henri The Second made light work of the valuable Virgin Bet Heroes Handicap Hurdle for Paul Nicholls at Sandown.
The nine-year-old was the 9-4 favourite for the staying event, run for a first prize of £56,736 with a field of 11 in contention.
Under Harry Cobden, victory for the bay never looked in doubt and he strolled home on the bridle, with the runner-up nine lengths behind him.
“I’ve been ringing them all week saying ‘please run this hurdle race’,” Nicholls told Racing TV.
“It’s a £100,000 race, we need these types of races and we lost it two years ago. I’m so glad it was on because this was this horse’s Gold Cup.
“I suspect we’ll step him up in grade, as long as it’s heavy ground. We may look at Haydock for the Rendlesham, we’ll wait for the mud!”
Jax Junior just too good
Lucy Wadham’s Jax Junior looked to be back to his best when winning the Virgin Bet Every Saturday Money Back Handicap Chase at 9-2 under Tom Cannon.
The seven-year-old appeared to benefit from a wind operation when coming home four and a quarter lengths to the good.
“They’ve done a great job with him, a lot of horses may not have come back from what happened to him at Ascot (when he bled from the nose) but he’s turned up today as good as ever,” said Cannon.
“The wind op has obviously helped and maybe stepping back to two miles in that ground has helped as well.
“He wasn’t really travelling through the middle part and I thought I might be in a bit of trouble, but they went hard and as the race developed he grew in confidence.”
Crackerjacque impressed with a smart win for Anthony Honeyball in the Virgin Bet Supports Safe Gambling “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle.
Ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies as the 13-8 favourite, the six-year-old returned to the scene of his former bumper success to score by a length and three-quarters from Ionian.
“We’ve had a lot of winners for the Frost family,” said Honeyball of the owners, who also have a grand old campaigner in Sam Brown.
“This is another nice horse, especially for next season and going chasing.
“He’s a bit weak at the minute, he’s a big horse and hopefully a chaser for next season.”
Pic Roc (7-2) galloped his rivals into submission in the closing Virgin Bet Masters Handicap Chase for trainer Ben Pauling and jockey Ben Jones.
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