Small bleed for Sprinter Sacre is not worry for Henderson

Dodging Bullets and Noel Fehily, right, lead Sprinter Sacre and Barry Geraghty before going on to win the Sodexo Clarence House Steeple Chase at Ascot on Saturday. Picture: Julian Herbert/PA.

Though the 2013 Queen Mother Champion Chase hero was beaten into second place by Dodging Bullets, Henderson believes his stable star showed plenty of positives in his first race since heart problems were diagnosed at Kempton in December 2013.

Sprinter Sacre was found to have suffered a small bleed after the race, but Henderson was satisfied with the condition of his star two-miler yesterday.

“He was more than 80 per cent fit and there is bound to be improvement,” he said.

However, Henderson’s Gold Cup winner Long Run has been ruled out for the season, denying it a tilt at the Crabbie’s Grand National. He has been on the sidelines since finishing down the field in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris in May.

Ireland’s top young chaser Vautour got his fencing career back on track with a facile success in the Leopardstown Killiney Novice Chase at the Dublin course to make amends for his Christmas defeat.

Katie T struck in the BoyleSports Hurdle for the unlikely partnership of Classic-winning trainer Kevin Prendergast and North Yorkshire-based jockey Brian Hughes.

“Brian was apprentice to me, for his sins. He’s a very, very high-class rider and it’s a surprise some of the bigger stables in England don’t use him,” said Prendergast.

Wetherby’s meeting tomorrow is subject to an 8.30am inspection today due to frost and snow.