Nicky Henderson’s Divine Spear hoping to make Cheltenham Festival handicap cut
Nicky Henderson's emphatic Ascot winner Divine Spear is being aimed at the Close Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.
IMPRESSIVE Ascot winner Divine Spear is likely to be aimed at the Close Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Nicky Henderson's seven-year-old has made a superb start to his chasing career, winning at Catterick and Ascot, and is set to have one more run en route to his likely target in March.
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His latest success was particularly convincing and saw him take a prominent position in the ante-post market for the final race of Cheltenham's opening day, a contest that is notoriously difficult to make the cut for.
Tom Palin, National Hunt manager for owners Middleham Park Racing, said: "The manner of his victory at Ascot was impressive and it was a bit of surprise he did that on only his second start over fences. It was lovely to see.
"He came out of the race fine. We gave him Christmas off and we're not in a frantic hurry to get him out again.
"We've just started building him up again and we'll probably try to find something for him at the end of January into early February.
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"After his win at Ascot we are thinking of possibly setting our sights a bit higher. I don't think we'll be giving him an entry in the JLT, but there might be something further down the line, a Grade One at Aintree (the Manifesto Novices' Chase) we'll have half an eye on if he was to impress next time.
"It's a little up in the air what we do. If Aintree comes too early, he could be a Punchestown horse. We'll see."