Champ - Horse Profile & Next Race Odds

Nicky Henderson (13 February 2023): "165 rated hurdler. At his best on his reappearance when beating Paisley Park four and a quarter lengths in the Coral Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury (3m) in November. Subsequently third, beaten four and three quarter lengths, to Paisley Park in the Long Walk Hurdle at Kempton (3m 1/2f) on Boxing Day."

Nicky Henderson (07 October 2022): "He has had more work on his back again this year and we decided to go back hurdling with him last year to make things easier for him. He was very impressive in the Long Walk, but I don’t think he quite performed to that level in the Stayers’ at the Festival or at Aintree. He has come back from Martinstown looking absolutely magnificent and I am sure that there are many big days ahead of him."

Nicky Henderson (05 April 2022): "He runs in the Liverpool Hurdle on Saturday and my theory is that three miles is good for him, but I think he prefers Flat tracks to hilly ones. He looked very good when beating Thyme Hill in the Long Walk and Aintree gives me every opportunity to test my theory. He has been in good form at home since Cheltenham."

Nicky Henderson (21 February 2022): "He is good, and he was maybe a little underwhelming on Trials Day and I don’t think he jumped quite as well as he did at Ascot. He did little wrong, and I said at the time and full credit to Emma (Lavelle) and her team with Paisley Park that he gave us 20 lengths start and still won and it was a very solid performance. If I can get him back to where we were at Ascot he has got to be there or thereabouts. Ascot was really his first race for a really long time as he didn’t have a race in the Gold Cup. The last race he actually had was in the Game Spirit at Newbury and whether he just bounced after Ascot we just don’t know. He was a better horse at Ascot than he was on Trials Day. He is a good horse at home as he doesn’t do a lot and doesn’t like the AW but on the grass, you ask him to do a lot more and he will do it. His problem in the Gold Cup was that he walked through the first, demolished the second and was pulled up before he fell over the third and it was a disaster. Something was ailing him, and we had to work on it and the general feeling was that the less pressure you had to put on him jumping wise to keep it down to the minimum, so it was easier to jump hurdles than fences. He was in the Gold Cup, but it seemed the obvious thing to go for the Stayers’ Hurdle."

Nicky Henderson (13 October 2021): "He had a difficult second season over fences after a cracking first season over fences. We were going to reintroduce him in the Denman Chase at Newbury or the Cotswold at Cheltenham but the ground was so bad we went over two miles in the Game Spirit and he looked to have had the ideal preparation for the Gold Cup when finishing second to Sceau Royal. However, he never jumped in the Gold Cup and his old back issues resurfaced. He has had surgery in Ireland and hopefully that will put him back to where he was, a genuine Gold Cup horse."

Nicky Henderson (25 February 2021): "That was an extraordinary performance in the RSA and reminiscent of dear old Might Bite where he was out of it and not going to feature. He was dropping back from the second last and it looked like he was going to finish a moderate third jumping the last and I went to see what was happening up front when all of a sudden, he came back into sight and swept past them. It proved one thing - his stamina as it was his first and only try at three miles and the second part that was interesting was that he did falter going to the second last and when we brought him into training earlier in the season, we were loose schooling him at Henrietta Knight's and we heard a noise which we never heard before. It makes me wonder whether that was what happened to him last year round about the second last. If your wind is working as well as it should be and whether that stopped him to lose that ground and then he got his second wind. We had to do his wind and that put us straight onto the back foot. First of all, he’s much better left-handed and we always thought the King George was never the race for him and we were not going to be ready for the Betfair Chase as he was still recovering from his operation and he still wasn't going to be ready for the King George anyway. We just had to keep going and the Cotswold was the alternative but we thought that was better for Santini. Champ was going to run in the Denman, but sometimes crazy ideas come into trainer's heads when you are thinking about things and it occurred to me that as Altior wasn't going to run in the Game Spirit we would prefer to run Champ over two miles rather than three. He had never run over two miles before, but he is an extraordinary horse and if you saw him at home a week before the race he was working on the grass gallop over nine or ten furlongs and going with On The Blind Side who isn't exactly a fast work horse and it took Champ all day to get to him. Champ at home and Champ on the racecourse are two different horses and he sparks up. I was hoping we would see what we saw, and it did go well and his jumping at that pace was exceptional. We all came away all very happy and he's come back fine."

Nicky Henderson (12 October 2020): "His only blemish over fences was in his prep for the Cheltenham Festival when he was well clear when falling at the second last and he went there having won his previous two starts at Newbury. He put in an extraordinary performance in the RSA as he looked destined to finish third but Barry (Geraghty) galvanised him into action up the hill and got him up to win a length. He has enjoyed his summer at Martinstown and we haven’t decided where he will start but we are hopeful all roads will lead to the Gold Cup at Cheltenham."