Why My Tent Or Yours’ injury won’t harm his Champion Hurdle bid
Published:Nicky Henderson has already been robbed of one of his stable stars through injury, with Sprinter Sacre sadly missing out on this year’s Cheltenham Festival. But news of My Tent Or Your’s problems are nowhere near as serious.
Henderson revealed the Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdle victor suffered a punctured front left sole after stepping on a stone but was almost horizontal in his laid-back approach to the seven-year-olds chances of making it to Prestbury Park.
JP McManus’ Champion Hurdle hope drifted from 7/2 to 9/2 for the race after the news but Henderson was left feeling “pretty confident” over the horse’s participation, claiming he’d done all his work ahead of the Tuesday showpiece.
With the trainer so calm about the “incident” it means that capitalising on the now inflated odds on My Tent Or Yours is a must for any Champion Hurdle punters.
Henderson is a seasoned veteran in dealing with last-minute scares in the run up to the greatest show on turf.
In 2010 Binocular suffered a setback that saw him pull out of this very race, only to go and win it after connections made a late U-turn. The same horse was also a late withdrawal in the 2011 rendition after medication failed to clear his system in time.
The New One and Hurricane Fly share favouritism this year, ahead of Henderson’s gelding, at 11/4, while Our Connor stands alone as the second-favourite at 4/1.
Jezki, another McManus-owned horse, tails My Tent Or Yours in the betting at 8/1. He will surely attract some backers should the injury end the Fighting Fifth champ’s involvement, as it was revealed McCoy would switch from the injured nag onto the six-year-old, replacing Barry Geraghty.
Speaking of the news, Ladbrokes’ David Williams said: “It happens every year before the Festival. Something happens, and people begin to wobble. Many are racing ahead of themselves, thinking that maybe My Tent Or Yours will miss the race and AP McCoy will switch to Jezki.”
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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