Nicky Henderson Given Cheltenham Fright In Text Message Mistake

It's not been the easiest of build ups to Cheltenham so far for top trainer Nicky Henderson and that seemingly got worse on the weekend after he misread a text from his assistant trainer Charlie Morlock.

He was at Ascot to watch over the likes of Pym & Pipesmoker when he received the head up off Morlock.

"We'd had a few runners at Fakenham on Friday, but I hadn't seen them before I left for Ascot and Charlie's text read, 'Fix Sun okay. Champ mystery lame – nothing obvious'" told media at Seven Barrows on Monday.

So obviously going off that text Henderson was thinking RSA Chase favourite CHAMP was in a little bit of trouble.

"I'm thinking, 'Champ, lame? He was as sound as a pound this morning, what's wrong with him? What's this mystery lameness?'

"It was doing my head in thinking and, of course, Charlie meant Champagne Mystery, who had run at Fakenham and was slightly lame, which you can expect the day after a race."

Despite having no winners at Ascot, Henderson picked up a double up north at Haydock with CARIBEAN BOY boosting his Marsh Novices Chase credentials with a five length victory and WELSH SAINT impressing to win on testing ground in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle.

Henderson's Cheltenham assault was boosted last week after his stable star ALTIOR bounced back to winning ways at Newbury to cement his place at the top of the Champion Chase market along with the highly promising novice hurdler CHANTRY HOUSE maintaining his unbeaten record with a rather simple victory at the Berkshire course.

One horse of Henderson's worth keeping an eye on this weekend is Stayers Hurdle hopeful L'AMI SERGE who is set to run in the Grade 2 Stella Artois National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell on Sunday. He's currently a 33/1 shot for next months race at Cheltenham.

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