IT HAS been lovely to read all the congratulatory birthday messages to Altior who today reached the milestone age of ten and is now in double digits! I have already been to see him this morning to give him a birthday carrot and pass on the kind comments from everyone – of which he’s very grateful, although I’m not sure he really understood what the fuss is all about! However, today is not just the birth date of Altior as my father, Johnny Henderson, would have been 100 and while he is sadly no longer with us, all of the family were planning on getting together tonight for a great big party to celebrate which would have included, sons, sisters, daughters, cousins, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews but unfortunately that will not happen and we have to resort to doing it all on something called Zoom which obviously won’t be quite the same but all the family will nevertheless be able get together to reminisce and mark the occasion.
Wishing equine superstar Altior a very Happy Birthday! @SevenBarrows | @KingAltior pic.twitter.com/Sb2mzPez5m
— Unibet Racing (@UnibetRacing) May 6, 2020
Dad was a big part of the whole thing and was closely involved with the financial side of racing and I’m sure he would have loved to see how much Cheltenham has grown over the last few years. A lot of things have happened since he hasn’t been with us and we now have the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual which we’ve managed to win a couple of times and the Festival has increased to four days, which was one of the things I screamed and shouted for, but I’m not quite sure he would have agreed with me on that one! He did so much for our industry and helped set up RHT (Racecourse Holdings Trust) which later became the Jockey Club and did a lot of work behind the scenes which people didn’t know about, so I thought it was definitely worth paying tribute to him on what would have been the day he became a centenarian.
He would have been extremely proud of the achievements of Altior and I’m glad to say he looks a million dollars and enjoying the grass and some sun on his back at his annual holiday quarters. I also walked down the lane this morning and saw Shishkin and Allart in the field and they are in magnificent shape. Most of the winter squad are already on their holidays which is about three weeks earlier than normal so it’s pretty quiet around the yard but we have a few still in training ready to go if jump racing resumes in July. Verdana Blue looks fantastic and she will probably race on the flat during the summer. I have to speak to her owners but the Queen Alexandra at Royal Ascot could be a possibility as I’d imagine she’d stay the trip as she’s a proper National Hunt mare but everything is obviously very much up in the air where Ascot is concerned. There are quite a few options for her and I wouldn’t even rule out dropping her right down in distance and having a crack at the Ebor (over 1m6f) at York in August. Brain Power is also doing very well and the plan is to take him back to America for a race in August so it wouldn’t do him any harm to have a spin on the flat beforehand to blow the cobwebs away.
We’re all keeping safe and well here and I hope it’s the same for all of you too. It’s a very tricky time for everyone but as long as we do what we are supposed to do we can all be together again soon and enjoy plenty more days at the races.
Best wishes,
Nicky
