Iberico Lord completes a Great day for Henderson

PA Sport Staff
November 19, 2023 4:38 pm

Jonbon win quickly followed up in valuable Cheltenham hurdle.

Iberico Lord came out on top for Nico de Boinville and Nicky Henderson in the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham.

The five-year-old was a 7-1 chance under 11st and travelled well among a busy field of 15, galloping into contention at the foot of the hill and running gamely to the line to reel in Neil King’s Lookaway.

Lookaway was second at 12-1, with Henderson also responsible for the third-placed horse in Luccia (6-1).

Henderson – still on a high after brilliant win of the also JP McManus-owned Jonbon in the Shloer Chase just 35 minutes earlier – said: “We wanted to get a team assembled for this meeting as JP was coming back for it so we gathered a few of the troops together for the weekend with Impose Toi and these two and it has paid off.

“Under Control, who is going for the Gerry Feilden at Newbury, beat him at Sandown fair and square and there was no fluke about it. I thought he was very good to start with, then he fell on his second start for us, then his wind didn’t work in his next one and then everything went wrong, but we got him there at the end of the day.

Iberico Lord gets up late to win the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle

A superb surge carries @NdeBoinville to back-to-back wins
It’s been quite a half an hour for the green and gold!#ITVRacing | @sevenbarrows pic.twitter.com/GV0T7NC5zU
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) November 19, 2023

“Apparently this is my first time winning this race, but I can’t remember what happened 40 something years ago.

“Going to the last I thought ‘one of you please win’. They both ran super races.

“It took time for him to get his act together last season. He won a very moderate race at Stratford and it didn’t sound like we were heading for the Greatwood Hurdle at that time. The Sandown run was good, but Under Control might be pretty good, too.

“AP (McCoy) said he thought the Ascot race (Betfair Exchange Trophy) would suit Impose Toi, but so it would this horse. One of them will have to go there, but as JP said that is a nice problem to solve. It has been a good weekend altogether and Nico has given them all some lovely rides.”

Neil King, trainer of the runner-up Lookaway, said: “He has done nothing wrong and Jack (Quinlan) has given him a cracking ride from the front. We have won our Grade Two here and he went up 10lb for that, and maybe without that we would have won today, but we will take the Grade Two and finish second today.

✅ Iberico Lord provides Nicky Henderson with his first Greatwood Hurdle victory
✅ Jonbon storms to success in the Shloer Chase
🟢🟡 It’s been a fantastic afternoon for @sevenbarrows, Nico de Boinville and JP McManus at @CheltenhamRaces!pic.twitter.com/vsitsFTlAa
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) November 19, 2023

“We might now go to Ascot for the Betfair Exchange Trophy at Christmas and that is what I have got on my mind at the moment. I must admit I thought we would take a lot of catching today, but there was just one who turned out to get past us unfortunately.”