Nicky Henderson: the Cheltenham visionary who is losing the power to see

This article was first published on racingpost.com on March 11, 2020

On an afternoon when odds-on Champion Chase banker Defi Du Seuil ran flatter than the Russian steppe and universal hopes of a rampant Tiger Roll were hammered into submission on the anvil of the cross-country, it is to Champ's surge to snatch the RSA that we must turn.

And with very good reason, though it is not easy to relate. We all know about stings in the tail, well this is a tale with a sting.

This was a day of serial marvel for JP McManus, arguably jump racing's most remarkable philanthropist, who with the Champion Hurdle trophy already Martinstown-bound rattled in a middling to staggering four winners.

Two of them, Champ and Dame De Compagnie, hail from the wonder yard of Seven Barrows, the fiefdom of one Nicky Henderson, winningmost festival trainer of all.

The RSA was a gruelling, old-fashioned Cheltenham novice chase which almost belonged to the era of black and white or sepia. The two market leaders Allaho and Minella Indo had traded blows up front from flagfall like those once-in-a-lifetime welterweights Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran.

Barry Geraghty, pictured after Champ's remarkable RSA win, was at the top of his gameCredit: Michael Steele (Getty Images)

Jumping the last eight and a half lengths clear of Champ, who was making no impression, it lay between them. Paul Townend and Rachael Blackmore had it to themselves and though both their mounts were all but touching the void as the slugfest intensified up the hill, it could only be theirs.

But with 140 yards to run, suddenly, like the Lord of the Rings' Gandalf nick-of-timing-it on his white charger at the battle of Helm's Deep, Champ began to storm at them. They say "the Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold" but those fierce warriors had nothing on Champ.

He was staying chase ferocity personified, or perhaps equinified.

The two leaders were tired but not legless, yet Champ scythed them down with a withering burst that barreled him home by a scarce-credible length. As one seasoned analyst said shaking his head: "Jesus he didn't half pick up."

And as Nicky candidly confessed afterwards, the drama, this volte-face of a horse race, simply passed him by. The explanation for this is simple. Nicky is the visionary who is losing the power to see.

An irreversible eye condition is taking this remarkable man down a dark tunnel. Literally.

For some years things have been deteriorating and as he said matter-of-factly: "I can't see anything as you know. I have to watch the big screen with my binoculars and when I saw Champ was going to be third I turned to watch the front two."

At his side, wife Sophie was screaming her head off though Nicky had not a notion why. "I had no idea what was happening." He subsequently added: "This horse has an attitude to die for."

Well I will tell you one thing Mr Henderson, the same can be said of his trainer. You knock him cold.

In recent times there has been, to steal from the hymn, less and less "kindly light amid the encircling gloom".

But never have you heard a murmur from the man. You would never know there was a problem unless you knew already.

He does not laugh it off, but he refuses to bend his knee to the tyranny of the inevitable. To the world he remains unchanged while the horizons of his world contract inexorably.

One can only guess at the searing frustrations, but he will not be bowed by them.

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He said: "On the gallops I have Charlie Morlock at my side and he will tell me what's happening as they come up to where I am."

Then opening his arms no more than three-quarters wide he says: "All I can see is that much. But put me in a horse's box and I can see absolutely everything I need to see.

"I am very lucky to be surrounded by very good horses, great owners and fabulous staff. That is all you want."

I give this account of how Nicky's land lies because I want you to understand what manner of man the sport has at its centre. And the time to be open about it is now, when he is cock of the walk and his horses are storming the festival citadel.

Let your own imaginations take a stab at the frustrations and ask yourself whether you could deal with things with endless cheer and sheer will that Nicky brings to bear on life.

To be at the very peak of your game and never let something like this deflect you for a nanosecond strikes me as nothing short of inspirational.

He brings us horses and victories that are the very stuff of our celebration. But these feats that illuminate our world are achieved through a growing murk.

Yet he is not having his tailor make any poor-me T-shirt. He is, and it is an imperishable achievement, simply incapable of self-pity.

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And don't you dare feel sorry for him because he wouldn't know how to feel sorry for himself.

He has at his side a magnificent wife and staff who would pass through fire for him.

This is not a revelation – I detest intrusion which is why I am a shocking journalist though a serviceable penman. I suppose I am asking little more than that when Seven Barrows bangs in another one you turn up the volume of your approbation not out of anything else than sheer unvarnished admiration for a man with the courage to shrug off a scourge that would stop lesser mortals in their tracks.

To the manor he was born. But it is the manner of the man we should cherish. I have met few like him and the sport is fortunate in the most profound way to have him smiling away at its very heart.

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