House adds to Henderson’s Festival hand

Graham Clark
February 8, 2020 2:15 pm

Impressive Newbury winner firmly in Cheltenham picture.

Chantry House can look forward to an outing at the Cheltenham Festival after maintaining his unbeaten record under rules in the Set Your Own Odds On Betfair Exchange Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury.

The Nicky Henderson-trained six-year-old followed up his debut triumph over hurdles at Cheltenham with a facile success under a penalty in the extended two mile prize.

Moving smoothly into contention under Barry Geraghty, the 8-15 favourite cruised through to join long-time leader Manvers House after the last, before being shaken up to score going away by four and a half lengths.

Henderson said: “Barry said he was good and everyone is happy. He is a smart horse. He was just very green when he won at Cheltenham, but that was a while ago.

“Barry says he races very sweetly, kindly and gently. He is not aggressive in any way. He travels away, you press the button and it works. You have got to be pleased with what he did, he came away nicely. He is very straightforward.”

But the Seven Barrows handler was not committing to which race out of the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle or the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle Chantry House would contest at the Festival.

He said: “As Barry said, you really could go either way (at Cheltenham). We know he stays and he has got the speed. You have got to stay in both races. We will have a look at both of them and just sit on the fence.

“Walking down with AP (McCoy) I said I would be surprised if he wouldn’t want another half a mile.

“Shiskhin will go two miles, but that can’t cloud the issue.”