My tips for Cheltenham

Dry January it wasn’t and I am not referring to the trainers who normally undergo an annual abstinence but who abandoned the effort this year in sheer frustration at racing’s woes. The unrelenting downpours that have seen a whole string of race meetings called off through waterlogging struck again last weekend. Cheltenham, which had already lost its New Year’s Day fixture to the weather, had to call off its Trials day too, the last scheduled fixture before the Festival in March. With so many opportunities lost for testing individuals’ mettle round the Gloucestershire Valhalla’s undulations and gradients, there will be an extra question mark dangling above many Festival entries this year.

Fortunately for the most exciting horse in training, the race Nicky Henderson had selected for novice chaser Shishkin was the Grade Two Lightning Novices’ Chase at Doncaster, where racing did take place. Through his long history handling the likes of See You Then, Sprinter Sacre and Altior, Nicky has grown accustomed to the pressures of preparing superstars burdened with huge public expectation, but he has never come to enjoy them.