Racing: Henderson's winning feast sets mood for Bacchanal

It takes a brave man to invite a pack of journalists into his home, as Nicky Henderson's face seemed to suggest yesterday while his morning guests repeatedly filled their coffee cups in the cavernous kitchen at Seven Barrows.

Yet such courage has its own reward and the trainer's bounty came quickly at Newbury in the afternoon with the first five-timer of his career. Perhaps, even now, Henderson is drawing up the room plan so that the noble men of the Fourth Estate can be houseguests for the Cheltenham Festival.

"I said last night that we could have anything between none and five winners here," Henderson said at his local track. "A week ago, I knew exactly what I was going to run in each race and it's amazing that it has all worked out." The cumulative odds were 306-1 and the most compelling of the victories was the first, after which Saintsaire leapt to the head of Triumph Hurdle betting.

Saintsaire jumped well on his debut over hurdles under Mick Fitzgerald – who was on all Henderson's winners – on his way to beating Vanormix by eight lengths. "He has always shown a great attitude," the trainer said. "We know what his objective is. He'd certainly want a couple of runs before then."

There are just a couple of pieces of work before even more vaunted names at Henderson's Lambourn yard next put their reputations to the test. The visitors who entered past the stone sentinels atop the gateposts at Seven Barrows yesterday had come to see the King George horses.

It was a morning to quickly revive in the Valley Of The Racehorse. The reading on the car digital clock was freezing and, out in the crisp air, Henderson completed the shocking effect by arriving in vermilion trousers.

In either hand, for photographic purposes, he held the reins of Bacchanal and Marlborough, who will be his representatives at Sunbury a week today. On the floor, this seemed to be the time for the Battersea Dogs' Home Christmas outing.

We will expect Henderson to do well at Kempton, just as we expect him to do well at all the major meetings. When The Bushkeeper collected the Fulke Walwyn/Kim Muir at Cheltenham in the spring it meant his trainer had missed out at the Festival only once in 16 years since 1985, the season See You Then collected the first of his three Champion Hurdles.

Henderson is even more formidable at Kempton's Christmas meeting. A year ago, Fondmort won the Wayward Lad Novices' Chase and Greenhope a juvenile novices' hurdle, Landing Light took the Christmas Hurdle, Cupboard Lover a handicap hurdle and Bacchanal finished third in the King George VI Chase.

Bacchanal will be back for another stab in the hands of Fitzgerald on Thursday, when connections hope, but do not expect, that he will have cured a jumping idiosyncrasy. Like Reg Prentice before him, Bacchanal inexplicably jumps right.

Yogi Breisner, the notable vaulting meister, made his weekly trip to Seven Barrows yesterday to work the horse. As usual, the eight-year-old was perfectly behaved at home. "It's extraordinary because you can go left-handed or right-handed with him in the indoor school and it makes no difference," Henderson said. "You couldn't make him deviate if you tried.

"On the course we've tried everything – prickers, different bridles and bits. We'll never stop trying, but now going right has become a habit with the horse."

For this reason, the King George appears Bacchanal's ideal race. The memory of his disturbing performance in last season's Gold Cup at left-handed Cheltenham is still so clear that Henderson insists Bacchanal's Festival target this time should be the Stayers' Hurdle (a race he won in 2000). The faith has been recovered by the chestnut's explosive reappearance over hurdles at Newbury.

"It was scary what he was doing to supposedly decent horses down by the cross hurdle there," Henderson said. "Mick was being run away with and the rest of them could not lie up. It's frightening how good he is, but we do have this slight chink in the armour.

"So Kempton is vital to him. The King George is crucial. It's the only [big] race over fences this way round. So this is it. This is his Gold Cup."

For all his triumphs, a King George has eluded Henderson. Travado and Remittance Man were beaten when well fancied and now, as the future of Sunbury as a jumping track dangles, time may be running out.

"Kempton is a speedy track and drains incredibly well," he said. "If it's dry up to the race we're going to struggle with Bacchanal. It won't be enough of a stamina test. Soft ground is crucial. What this horse really needs is all the drains to be blocked and the pop-up sprinklers to set off by mistake." And his mates from the press room to pop round for a fry-up.