English/Ire
Lulamba leading Henderson into Cheltenham battle
Lulamba will look to get Nicky Henderson off to a flying start at the Cheltenham Festival when he lines up on the opening day in the My Pension Expert Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices' Chase.
Nicky Henderson's five-year-old hasn't looked back since going down by a neck in last year's Triumph Hurdle at the Festival and after making a successful chasing debut at Exeter, the son of Nivana du Berlais subsequently took the step up in class in his stride, recording a commanding victory in the Henry VIII Novices' Chase before stepping into open company in the Game Sprit earlier this month.
Henderson, who is no stranger to using the Game Spirit as a stepping-stone to Arkle glory having done the same with the likes of Altior and Sprinter Sacre, now has all eyes on the Cheltenham Festival with his classy French-bred.
"He's good and we were all happy with Newbury," said the Seven Barrows handler. "Visibly it wasn't everything early in the race that maybe everybody would have wanted to see, but that is sort of learning on the job and he did. It got him thinking a bit and he got a couple wrong.
"Nico (De Boinville) just had to bustle him up but as soon as he got that little bit of daylight, winged the second last thing, he was gone. I just loved the way he went down to the last.
"He was proper class. So, going back into novice camp, that's going to stand him in good stead, isn't it?"
Whilst Lulamba's immediate future lies over two miles as a novice, Henderson believes he'll follow a similar route to his leading Gold Cup contender Jango Baie, who himself landed the Arkle when coming from out of the clouds twelve months ago.
He added: "I think you'll see him on the Jango Baie road. If the old two-and-a-half mile novice chase was still there, they could have just waited another couple of years before they switched it into a handicap again.
"I could see him going down the same route as Jango Baie did this year. Start at two-and-a-half in Ascot, something like that, rather than the Tingle Creek. He was really good round Sandown."
Before Lulamaba takes to the field in the Arkle, Henderson will already have been represented by Old Park Star in the opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle, with the striking Gordon & Su Hall-owned six-year-old clear market leader following an eighteen-length romp at Grade 2 level at Haydock.
"He's lovely but a big baby though. This is a horse for next year and the year after, as much as this year," said Henderson, who had just watched nine of his Cheltenham Festival contenders gallop at Kempton.
"He's got a lot of filling out to do. Watching him out there, I remember a few years ago bringing Altior here and that was as confident as I think I've ever been in my life. I couldn't see Altior getting beat - nothing was going to get to him where he was at that stage of his life.
"I can't say I'd say the same thing about Old Park Star at this particular moment, but I think he's lovely - he's just great. What he'd done in his last two runs was, he's been extraordinary. He must travel at some pace, because he seems to get them all in trouble a long way out.
"I think he's got the tactical speed, I'd be pretty sure he stays well, and he has definitely got a gear. Around Haydock, which is a speedy track, it was extraordinary how one minute there were some horses on his tail and the next thing, he's just gone.
"I can't believe this fellow won't be jumping fences next year."
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