Nicky Henderson enters horses in Ireland in search of better ground

• Trainer frets over Bobs Worth for Saturday's Hennessy
• Handler may have three runners in the King George

Chris Cook at Lambourn
The Guardian, Tuesday 27 November 2012

It has come to this. Desperately searching for a racecourse where the going is not measured in fathoms, Nicky Henderson has started making entries for his horses in Ireland, traditionally the home of heavy going through the jumps season. British tracks are so thoroughly saturated at the moment that the trainer may send both Bobs Worth and Darlan to Leopardstown for the Christmas meeting there.

"Sometimes that ground isn't too bad," Henderson said during a media morning at his stables here on Tuesday. More immediately, everyone wants to know whether Bobs Worth will run in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday, for which he is the 4-1 favourite, but the trainer is blanching at the prospect of putting an inexperienced youngster through such a long and competitive race on seriously testing ground.

"First time out, it's not a very good idea, is it?" he said. "I'll walk the course this afternoon. I don't know why, as I know what it's going to be like."

Richard Osgood, Newbury's clerk of the course, later reported that Henderson had completed a circuit of the track and agreed with the official description of soft, heavy in places. There is little rain in the forecast between now and the weekend but strong winds and overnight frosts could make it holding, the most exhausting kind of turf to run through.

"Bobs Worth has been working really, really well and the grass gallops here are as soft as I've seen them," Henderson said, "but it's still nothing like what Newbury's going to be like." He planned to discuss the issue with Bobs Worth's 10 owners last night but did not expect to make an immediate decision about whether to run.

Having been confident that Finian's Rainbow would cope with the going at Ascot on Saturday, which he appeared to loathe in the event, Henderson is not now keen on predicting how his runners will fare. "Our horses, by and large, don't tend to suit very soft ground," he said.

The ground is a particular issue for Darlan, who may have to miss the Fighting Fifth Hurdle this weekend, whether it is staged at its normal home of Newcastle or switched to Newbury, because the trainer fears that soft will not suit. But Henderson has Grandouet and Binocular to run in other classy two-mile hurdles in Britain next month, another reason why Darlan may go to Leopardstown for the Istabraq Hurdle. Bobs Worth's target at Leopardstown would be the Lexus and he will certainly not go for Kempton's King George as he is best on a left-handed track.

Henderson showed off his three possible King George runners, Long Run, Finian's Rainbow and Riverside Theatre, and was taking the positives from Long Run's second in the Betfair Chase on Saturday. "At least we didn't get into that horrible slog that we had last year with Kauto [Star]. I really do think that got to the bottom of him a bit, whereas at least this time we've had a gentler introduction."

In consultation with the horse's jockey, Sam Waley-Cohen, he is considering whether Long Run might be best suited by making the running at Kempton, an approach they almost decided to try in the Betfair