Nicky Henderson: 72 Cheltenham Festival winners and counting - including Sprinter Sacre's renaissance

Introducing our cast of legendary Cheltenham characters. A new instalment will be published twice a week leading up to this year's Cheltenham Festival. Today – Nicky Henderson.

What makes him great

Nicky Henderson is the most successful British trainer in Cheltenham Festival history. With 72 wins to his name before the 2023 festival, he is second in the all-time list behind only Willie Mullins and is responsible for a host of Cheltenham superstars, including Sprinter Sacre, Altior and Long Run.

Educated at Eton College, Henderson was assistant to legendary trainer Fred Winter, for whom he rode as an amateur, from 1974 until taking out his own licence in 1978.

Henderson saddled his first winner in the October of that year and, having moved to the historic Seven Barrows yard in Lambourn in 1992, has been crowned British champion jumps trainer six times and gone on to become one of the most revered and decorated figures in racing history.

The early years

The wait for a first festival success went on for a few years but it was worth it when it came, with See You Then victorious in the 1985 Champion Hurdle. The talented but fragile star, who raced only 15 times, was masterfully prepared to successfully defend his title in 1986 and 1987 to become one of only five horses to have won the Champion Hurdle three times. The trainer later described See You Then, who has a bar named after him at Cheltenham racecourse, as the horse "who put me on the Cheltenham map".

Nicky Henderson: 72 Cheltenham Festival wins to his name before this year's fixtureCredit: Edward Whitaker

The festival floodgates opened as Henderson recorded the most wins for a trainer, either on his own or jointly, at Cheltenham six times between 1985 and 1993, a period that included the notoriously highly strung Remittance Man's win in the 1992 Champion Chase.

Decade of domination

At the turn of the century, Henderson had long established himself as a dominant force but his star ascended further still with 2010 heralding the start of an extraordinary decade of big-race domination with horses who would transcend the sport.

Binocular's victory in the 2010 Champion Hurdle, which followed on from Punjabi a year earlier, lit the blue-touch paper as Henderson equalled Peter Easterby's record of five wins in the race, an honour he now has on his own with eight victories in all.

In 2011, Henderson won the Gold Cup for the first time with Long Run.

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The magnificent seven

The 2012 festival lives long in the memory as Henderson trained a then-record seven winners, including Sprinter Sacre (Arkle), Simonsig (Ballymore), Bobs Worth (RSA) and Finian's Rainbow (Champion Chase) to become the all-time leading trainer at the festival – a record now bestowed to Mullins – after surpassing Fulke Walwyn.

The trainer rounded off the week with Bellvano's victory in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual, a race named after his late father who was credited with helping save Cheltenham from closure, after which he said: "It's been an amazing week and it's finished with an emotional day."

Even greater heights were scaled the following year as Sprinter Sacre landed the Champion Chase with a staggering performance, beating the top-class Sizing Europe by 19 lengths, for which he earned a highest-ever Racing Post Rating of 190, while Bobs Worth provided Henderson with his second Gold Cup success.

Sprinter Sacre: recovered from problems with an irregular heartbeat to win his second Champion Chase in 2016Credit: Edward Whitaker

The greatest of comebacks

Sprinter Sacre was Henderson's masterpiece and proved fairytales do come true when recovering from problems with an irregular heartbeat to win his second Champion Chase in 2016, returning to a tumultuous reception from a crowd bearing witness to one of the most extraordinary comebacks Cheltenham had ever seen.

"I will just never, ever forget it," Henderson reflected later. "It was just this haze of noise and the crowd were unbelievable – I don't think we'll see a horse get a reception like that for a long time."

At the festival that year, Altior advertised his outstanding ability in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle and then won the Arkle (2017) and two Champion Chases (2018 and 2019) on course to setting a record unbeaten run over fences of 19 races.

More chapters to be written

Shishkin, winner of the 2020 Supreme and following year's Arkle, and last year's breathtaking Supreme hero Constitution Hill have produced moments of brilliance in keeping with Henderson's past greats and spearhead this year's festival team for a trainer who was awarded an OBE for his services to racing in 2020.

Henderson, 72, has broken countless festival records and, having had at least one winner at every meeting since 2009, he can be relied upon to lead Britain's fight against the dominant Irish challenge.

Read these next:

Freddie Williams: the betting ring king who was never afraid to lay bets from JP McManus 

Jonjo O'Neill: the legendary jockey and trainer who beat the odds time and time again 

Martin Pipe: the unconventional genius who became a hero to a generation of punters 

Willie Mullins: the festival's leading trainer, the £50m fall and his big hopes this year 

'That's what McCoy is all about' - the punters' pal and a Cheltenham legend 

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