Sprinter Sacre in sad farewell at Cheltenham

Five of Sprinter Sacre’s victories came at the home of steeplechasing and it was rather poignant that exactly 12 months after his win in the Shloer Chase on this card that the 10-year-old returned to be given a fitting farewell from the track.

His racing days have been ended by a tendon injury as he was being prepared for next month’s Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown.

Sprinter Sacre won 18 of his 24 starts and amassed £1,136,000 in prize-money.

In between his two Champion Chase victories, he was plagued with problems and was sidelined from December 2013 to January 2015 with a fibrillating heart.

Henderson said: “It’s been a great part of our lives and an extraordinary journey.

“The sad thing is he has been doing everything right. We had three weeks before the Tingle Creek, we were going to work him on Saturday then take him to Newbury on Tuesday.

“He had that great charisma about him. One of the greatest days we had is when we took him to Ireland, which we always promised we would do.

“We were just the curators. He really was a treasure.”

Joining the Henderson stable from France, Sprinter Sacre made a winning debut in an Ascot bumper in February 2010 and went novice hurdling the following campaign.

After winning two of his first three starts, he was then third in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in March 2011.

It was as a chaser that he really made his mark, though. He created a big impression in his novice season which saw him defeat Cue Card in the Arkle Trophy in 2012.

He went on to win his first 10 races over fences, including the Champion Chase at the 2013 Cheltenham Festival, but his successful streak came to an abrupt halt when he was pulled up in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton.

He made a full recovery and returned to action in January 2015 when he was second to Dodging Bullets in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

Sprinter Sacre last season achieved what has been called “the impossible dream” when he reclaimed his two-mile crown with a convincing defeat of Un De Sceaux at the Festival in March.

He wound up the campaign with a similarly authoritative victory in the Celebration Chase at Sandown in April in what turned out to be his swansong.

Henderson added: “What happened last year was something that will never be repeated in my lifetime.

“We’ve been very lucky over the years and there was probably no bigger day than this day last year when he won the Shloer Chase.

“It wasn’t his finest hour as he improved all year. But this day last year was when it really had to happen. We knew if that didn’t work that day we would have had to say, ‘No more’.

“That crowd that November afternoon was a March crowd. It was the most fantastic day. He loves it and adores the whole thing.”

However, the day turned into one of despair for the Seven Barrows team when just minutes after Sprinter Sacre paraded, the Henderson stable lost a star in Simonsig. The 10-year-old was put down after breaking a leg following a fall at the third fence in the Shloer Chase won by Fox Norton.

“It (Sprinter Sacre’s retirement) was not a funeral, but a celebration of life, but now we’ve got the funeral and the tears all of a sudden go the other way,” said Henderson.

Thistlecrack overcame a couple of hairy moments to easily maintain his unbeaten record over fences in the mallardjewellers.com Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.

Last season’s champion staying hurdler took off too early at a couple of open ditches, but soon recovered and won in convincing style.

Irish challenger Marinero made the early running but Tom Scudamore decided to take Colin Tizzard’s extremely talented performer to the front with a circuit left.

From then on Thistlecrack’s overall jumping improved and though Marinero closed the gap briefly, the issue was never in doubt.

The 1-7 shot won as he liked by three and three-quarter lengths.

Tizzard said: “Everyone is going to scrutinise his jumping, because he is such a big, powerful horse who gallops so well, there’s nothing else to talk about.

“He has tremendous scope and it’s nice to get another run under his belt – he’s getting experience of jumping round against lesser opposition, but has he learnt anything today?

“I was glad when Tom went on (as the second circuit approached) because he was better going a bit faster.”

Thistlecrack will stick to the novice route for his next race, which could be at Newbury’s Hennessy meeting.

“I would say he will stay as a novice for now – he might have another run at the end of the month, possibly at the Hennessy meeting,” said Tizzard.

“He’s not the finished article and I can’t see any point in staying in his stable for the next six weeks. I’d like him to take on more rivals, but people won’t take us on. The King George is a very hot race, a ‘yeehaa’ all the way round as we’ve seen in the past. It’s one of the toughest races you can imagine.

“If we’re going big after Christmas, he needs to get more experience - he has such a big engine he won’t have given himself a hard race today. At the moment, he’s a novice chaser and so we’ll have another run and then decide his next target.”

Paddy Power left Thistlecrack unchanged as 7-2 favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Viconte Du Noyer (20-1) won a dramatic race for the BetVictor Handicap Chase to complete a quick double for the Tizzard stable.

Le Reve, who unseated Nico de Boinville at the second fence when sharing the lead with Shotgun Paddy, caused mayhem at the fence in front of the stands.

He went straight across the obstacle, causing a pile-up with the well-fancied Cogry, Racing Pulse and Midnight Prayer the casualties, as Harry Cobden brought Viconte Du Noyer with a strong run to claim the spoils by a length from Warrantor.