Shishkin is aiming to bowl ’em over at Aintree
NICKY Henderson will be hoping Shishkin can spark an end-of-season run of success at Aintree this weekend.
The Seven Barrows trainer has suffered a traumatic 2024 so far, with a health scare ruling out many of his top runners at the Cheltenham Festival last month.
That included Champion Hurdle favourite Constitution Hill, who is recovering after spending time in a veterinary hospital with suspected colic and has been ruled out until November.
Shishkin was another of the horses pulled out of Cheltenham, but he is one of seven declared for the Aintree Bowl Chase today [Thursday], the opening day of the Grand National meeting.
Ten-year-old Shishkin won the Grade 1 chase last year and Henderson will be hoping his temperamental chaser can end the season on a high.
It has been an up-and-down season for Shishkin so far.
He refused to race in the 1965 Chase at Ascot before he unseated jockey Nico de Boinville two from home while leading the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day. Shishkin returned to winning ways in the Denman Chase at Newbury in February, but he will face a stiff test at Aintree. Having missed out at Cheltenham, Jonbon looks set to return to action in the Melling Chase, where is a 9/4 favourite with Betfair to pick up the win
With Constitution Hill out of this year’s Aintree Hurdle, Henderson will be pinning his hopes on mares Marie’s Rock and Luccia.
And Sir Gino – another of those pulled out of Cheltenham – is odds-on for victory in the The Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle.
Stable stalwart Champ holds an entry for the Liverpool Hurdle at a big price on the final day of the meeting on Saturday, while another experienced campaigner in Chantry House could go in the Handicap Hurdle this Saturday.