Binocular bounces back in spectacular fashion

DAY ONE REPORTS:BINOCULAR, THE horse that a month ago wasn't even going to run in the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle, yesterday ended up routing his opposition in supreme style for the JP McManus-Tony McCoy team.

For trainer Nicky Henderson it was a memorably sweet moment to watch Binocular sweep clear of Khyber Kim and Zaynar, a year after he admitted a possible lack of fitness contributed to Binocular finishing only third behind Punjabi.

However, for a man whose establishment credentials took an improbable knock when receiving a three-month ban last summer for a positive dope test in a horse he trains for the Queen – along with a €44,000 fine – maybe it was no surprise that yesterday’s success came with a slight edge.

It has been that kind of 12 months for the most successful current trainer at the Cheltenham festival. It’s only four weeks since Henderson announced Binocular wouldn’t run in the Champion and instead would undergo a series of medical exams to find out why his jumping had been proving such a disappointment to McCoy in three earlier races this season.

Even a victory at Sandown last month left the champion jockey spectacularly unimpressed. Henderson’s decision to draw stumps on a Champion Hurdle preparation resulted in a trip by Binocular to Ireland where among his treatments was a bone scan by Coolmore Stud’s vet John Halley that revealed precisely nothing.

An invitation by British racing’s information administrators, Weatherbys, to scratch Binocular from the Champion Hurdle had been declined by Henderson after he consulted with McManus and as the horse had never been anything but completely sound the feeling grew there was nothing to lose by persevering with his training.

The trainer subsequently confirmed the horse was back in the Cheltenham reckoning and a hugely impressive schooling session last Wednesday convinced McCoy the wheels were back on.

“I went there wanting to find out if he could jump like a Champion Hurdle horse and I’ve never gone faster in a schooling hurdle. I frightened myself we went so fast, and I probably scared the trainer. But for the first time this season I got a feel from the horse.

“I don’t know why it happened but he gave me the same feel he did last season and I couldn’t find a reason for him not to run,” said McCoy yesterday after recording a third Champion Hurdle success.

A preparation described as “weird” and “bizarre” by Henderson certainly worked and yielded a fifth Champion Hurdle for him and a fourth for McManus after Istabraq’s hat-trick.

But the doyen of Lambourn trainers got some media flak afterwards for announcing Binocular was not going to run in the race only to then change his mind.

A view expressed afterwards at a press conference that anyone backing Khyber Kim in the period that Binocular had been ruled out might feel sore left McCoy visibly irritated and had Henderson no doubt feeling he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“I was keeping everyone informed about what the situation was,” he said. “Should I have said nothing?” It seemed tough on the 59-year-old who was bringing his festival tally to 36 winners and who also saddled the third horse yesterday, Zaynar.

“Nicky really had him in peak condition,” praised McManus. “I’d given up all hope so have only really been sweating since last week – I’d torn up my tickets.”

Khyber Kim’s trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies said: “If he (Binocular) hadn’t run, it would have been different and he wasn’t meant to be running a week ago. If he hadn’t run, we’d have won by six lengths. It’s frustrating, but we were beaten by a better horse on the day.”

There was also frustration for the Irish favourite Go Native whose attempt at a million pound bonus never looked like taking off after he conspicuously failed to take off and jump the second flight of hurdles properly.

“Paul (Carberry) said he was lucky to stand up at the second – he sort of dived at it – and never felt right after that. He was probably lucky to get away with the mistake and never gave Paul the same feeling,” said trainer Noel Meade. “These things happen in racing.”

As with so many things, timing really is everything. as Binocular proved yesterday.