Looking Ahead to the New Season

2 November 2009

In the hope that this is a series of articles that will stretch well into the New Year – indeed the second week of March - I am pleased to chronicle the well-being or otherwise of Punjabi, the reigning Champion Hurdler.

The 2008-9 season was a veritable roller-coaster from the beginning, with Newcastle, home of the WBX.COM Fighting Fifth Hurdle, the opening leg of the £1 million WBX Hurdling Triple Crown, losing out to frost.

I was well into Yorkshire before getting the call from the sponsors that the meeting was off. Strangely, it might have been a stroke of luck for Punjabi, as ever coming only gradually to full fitness after his usual summer gluttony on the lush grass at Kingwood stud.

The extra week enabled a couple more bits of work at Seven Barrows and Nicky Henderson sent him off to the revised date at Wetherby seven days later with slightly greater aspirations.

That he could beat Sublimity after looking likely to be swamped for speed at the last owes much to jockey Barry Geraghty’s skill and his own determination. So then it was off to Kempton for the Christmas Hurdle with that amazing £1 million still on the agenda.

Raymond Tooth, his proud owner, was full of expectation as he rolled up in a massive King George crowd on Boxing Day and coming to the home straight all was going well, Geraghty still sitting happy as they approached two out with the leader in his sights. Inexplicably, this normally accurate jumper missed it completely, coming down with an almighty crash.

Punjabi is a big horse, and the impact seemed sure to have brought serious injury, but Raymond’s fears were soon relieved. Punjabi suffered a cut at an inconvenient place, and the usual bumps and bruises, but he was otherwise unscathed. The snag, though, for this particular horse was his well-known need to be kept busy. The million had gone, but we still wanted the Champion Hurdle, after his third place the year before.

Nicky decided that Punjabi had to go for the Kingwell Hurdle if we were to have any chance at Cheltenham, but heavy ground and unfavourable weight terms, with the inadequate work he had been able to get after recovering from Kempton, meant he was well below peak at Wincanton.

Before the race Barry said he would try to keep him in the race and nick it near the line. Afterwards he said that turning for home he was certain they would win, but then Punjabi blew up badly two out and could finish only third. “Never mind, that’ll put him right for Cheltenham,” he said.

Meanwhile Henderson’s apparent first choice Binocular also encountered inconvenience, as Lambourn was blanketed by snow at precisely the wrong time. Work on the grass was impossible, so a trip to Kempton where Binocular failed to impress the watching press brigade was the unsatisfactory solution.

So Binocular probably was a little short at Cheltenham, evidence A P McCoy’s less than usual energy between the last two. After the last, Binocular responded well, but could never get to the heroic Punjabi, or indeed equally brave Celestial Halo in an epic battle up the hill.

Heavy ground was again an issue as Punjabi narrowly failed to make it two in a row in the Irish Champion Hurdle and three in a row at Punchestown, but Solwhit got a lead close home that our boy would have cancelled out with a few extra yards to go. You can see why the Binocular enthusiasts believe the result can be over-turned this March, but we have more important immediate issues to resolve.

Punjabi’s progress since coming back in has been more than satisfactory, his enthusiasm for work never changing. With three and a half weeks to go to Newcastle, the heavy rain over the past weekend could not have been better timed for the Henderson horses to get onto the grass gallops after the dearth of autumn rain.

The not so old boy should, accidents apart, be primed to run a big race on his first competitive race at Newcastle. It’s hard to think he’s still only six! All we can do now is sit and wait and keep our collective fingers crossed.

For all the latest news on the WBX Hurdling Triple Crown or if you have any questions or comments for Tony then follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WBXTRIPLECROWN

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