- Trainer: Nicky Henderson
- Age: 5 y/o
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Race Type: Jump
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Description: Chestnut Gelding
Nicky Henderson dominated the Cheltenham Festival Champion Hurdle in the late 1980s with See You Then. More recently handled some spectacular jumpers, including Sprinter Sacre, Bobs Worth, Long Run, Binocular and Altior.
A very smart individual, Diamond River suffered a setback in the first season (2018-19) as a result of being kicked when out on exercise. It was a real shame as Nicky was very impressed with him in his early career work and thought he was certainly one of his smarter stores in the 2018-19 Season.
After a summer out at grass, he came in for the new 2019-20 Season having fully recovered from the previous season’s injury and had his debut run in a National Hunt Flat Race at Warwick on Classic Chase Day, Saturday 11th January. He raced prominently throughout and eventually finished a creditable third, beaten 5 ¾ lengths by the Olly Murphy-trained Here Comes McCoy.
He has had one other run since in a NH Flat race at Kempton Park on Friday 7th December where he went one better, finishing second on this occasion (beaten 2 ½ lengths). Again, he tracked the leader’s throughout, came wide off the home bend and responded well to pressure when ridden – and did actually get this head in front when there were six in a line at 3f out but Hoi Polloi came from off the pace and just got his head in front in the last few strides which was unfortunate for our chap.
He was due to run in at least one more bumper this season before going away for the summer but Covid-19 put pay to that. However, he has schooled over hurdles at home recently and looks to be a very natural jumper so we look forward to seeing him over obstacles when he returns in the new 2020-21 season all being well.
