Nicky Henderson breaks silence on ‘special’ £340,000 horse owner moved to his yard from rival

NICKY HENDERSON is no stranger to training some of the sports best horses and thinks a horse poached from a rival stable could be special.

The Seven Barrows trainer welcomed two horses worth a combined £630,000 earlier this week after owner Olly Harris moved them from Neil Mulholland’s yard.

The most exciting of the two is Willmount, who was bought for £340,000 at the Cheltenham Sales in February 2022.

He made a jaw-dropping debut at Doncaster in January, winning by 13 lengths after showing a devastating turn of foot.

He followed up at the same course in similar fashion two months later, making all the running for an effortless success.

A campaign over hurdles beckons this season and Henderson reckons he can rate very highly.

He told : “He’s only just arrived but will certainly be going straight over hurdles.

“He’s a very nice horse actually and he looked a good horse for Neil last year – he looks very well.

“He did look a bit special, and interestingly we all knew he looked quite good because I bought his sister at the Derby Sale in Ireland over the summer hoping he might turn out to be a good horse.”

Willmount could be heading for the Supreme at next year’s Cheltenham Festival.

Henderson has won the race five times, including with some of his best horses, such as Altior, Shishkin and Constitution Hill.

There’s also the option of stepping up in trip to head for the Ballymore, given that stamina will not be a problem.

Willmount is 40-1 with bet365 for the Supreme and 50-1 with William Hill for the Ballymore.

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