'He's a smashing horse' - Nicky Henderson eyes more prize-money for Doddie Weir foundation with promising namesake

The promising Doddiethegreat, whose prize-money goes to the foundation set up in memory of late Scottish rugby star Doddie Weir, will bid to extend his unbeaten record at Cheltenham on Friday.

Trained by Nicky Henderson, the gelding is owned by his breeder Kenny Alexander and was named in honour of the popular Weir, who had motor neurone disease and died last year.

Unbeaten in four races, Doddiethegreat had two years off with a serious tendon injury before winning at Ascot last month and is entered in a 2m1f handicap hurdle (1.15).

"He is on course for Friday," the Lambourn trainer said. "He's a smashing horse and doesn't tell you he's a superstar at home, so it makes it quite difficult to evaluate him, but we'll hopefully find more out at Cheltenham.

"I'm trying to keep the value of the races he runs in as high as possible because it all goes to the Doddie Weir foundation, which is a fantastic cause and a brilliant thing for Kenny to do. He's passionate about it, hence the name of the horse, while Doddie was a great friend of his. It's lovely."

In the same novice hurdle generation as Seven Barrows superstars Constitution Hill and Jonbon, Doddiethegreat returned in an introductory hurdle at Ascot three weeks ago.

"You could have that bounce factor after such a long time off, but you can't hang around and the conditions of this race, a 0-140, are perfect for him and I hope it will be nice ground at Cheltenham by the weekend," said the six-time champion trainer.

Shanagh Bob could run at Cheltenham this weekendCredit: Mike Hewitt

Henderson will do well to match that Constitution Hill-Jonbon crop of youngsters, but he has some promising sorts this season and they include Kintail and Shanagh Bob, who are due to race at the track on Friday and Saturday.

"I hope we've got a pretty strong team for the weekend," he added. "I think Kintail will run in the novice hurdle on Friday and Shanagh Bob will run in the three-mile novice hurdle on Saturday.

"Shanagh Bob might not be as hyped as some of my novice hurdlers, but he's the stayer of the bunch and it's good to spread them out. I hope we've got some two-and-a-half-milers and we've plenty of two-milers so they need to sort themselves out, but I'm pretty sure he's the three-miler. He'll be a lovely chaser one day.

"City Chief is also set to run in Saturday's staying chase, while Mister Coffey is entered too and Wiseguy, who won well at Exeter on his debut over fences, will run somewhere as well. There'll also be something for the juvenile hurdle so it will be a busy weekend."

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