Visit to Nicky Henderson's Seven Barrows Stables

by Stewart Nash and Terry Knight

After the calm of the pre Christmas visit to Emma Lavelle’s our first stable visit of 2008 proved the proverbial nightmare. After having to disappoint a large number of members as the visit was three times oversubscribed on the numbers Nicky had indicated we were then faced with one of the foulest days this winter. A number of people did try to contact us at short notice to say they didn’t feel it was safe to travel and even Nicky himself tried to call to suggest an abandonment. In the end nine people did turn up after negotiating a traffic jam on the M4 caused by a car on fire (God only knows how a car could catch fire on a morning as wet as this) and flooded roads to enjoy a stable visit that went ahead despite everything.
By the time our party assembled however, it had stopped raining and the visit commenced with Nicky warming to the task and driving us all up onto the gallops to see one lot working. We then saw two lots work in the covered ride and we finished with Nicky showing us round himself throughout, which was a really nice touch for such a large yard.
With the news that the following days racing at Newbury was off it meant that J P McManus’s Binocular who was fancied in the juvenile hurdle would not now get a run. Mad Max in the Ludlow bumper on the Thursday was another that Nicky seemed keen about.
We were all impressed by Jack The Giant, a lovely horse, which Nicky wheeled out of his box to show us. He is clearly the apple of his eye and he told us this is what a jumper should look like.
Overall the visit lasted two hours and those who made it really enjoyed themselves. It just goes to show you shouldn’t let a little bit of weather put you off – those horses, the stables and the gallops are still there and raring to go.