DO you think Gordon Elliott might have touched a nerve or two on the other side of the Irish Sea this week?

On Monday, the Meath man suggested they “duck and dive each other the whole time” in Britain.

“Absolute bull****!” Nicholls said on Tuesday.

Nicky Henderson took a similar stance but used more conventional language on Thursday, with reference to today’s Tingle Creek: “No one is ducking and diving, nobody is frightened of anybody. This is a proper Grade 1.”

He is right of course, this is a proper Grade 1, but let us just hold that assertion until the clock strikes noon today, when both Henderson and Alan King have had a chance to do their own inspection.

Everyone, including those trainers, would love to see a full complement of seven take their chance in a race that has the rarity of show-stopper potential. Think Moscow Flyer, Azerytuiop and Well Chief locked into battle. The same for Un De Sceaux and Altior.

Incidentally Shishkin has never run at Sandown, where Greaneteen and Edwardstone are Grade 1 winners. But Henderson fended off any suggestion that this is an ‘away’ day, and was particularly interesting when making reference to the challenge of the former mentioned, whose trainer has been in his usual bullish form this week.

“There seems to be a lot of confidence coming out of Ditcheat, which I respect, as he (Greaneteen) is a good horse,” Henderson said “You have got to go back and hope we have got the Shishkin that was at Ascot for that epic battle with Energumene last season which was the race of the season.

“If he is back to that we will be very competitive, I hope. That, I can’t guarantee as we had obviously had a mega problem after Cheltenham, but I am confident that (bone condition) is behind us.

“It is a proper Grade 1 and so it should be. They are the best two milers around, without Energumene, who is the Champion Chaser.

“It is good prize money and this is where they should meet. Nobody has ducked or dived and we hope they won’t have to.”

Earlier Henderson will hope to win the Close Brothers Henry VIII Novices’ Chase (1.45) with Jonbon. It seems there has been a few ducker-divers here as just three face the McManus horse but Boothill is one of them, and he is worthy adversary, having done well to win a handicap chase at Ascot two weeks ago.

Up at Aintree, Ahoy Senor will bid to get his season back on track back at a familiar surrounding when he takes on the Grade 2 BoyleSports Many Clouds Chase (1.30). A dual Grade 1 winner at the course, Lucinda Russell’s chaser blew out completely in the Charlie Hall, where he jumped as shoddily as ever, and consequently was eased out to 20/1 plus for the Gold Cup.

A win could put him back in the reckoning for the blue riband.

FOR a race inaugurated less than 30 years ago, it’s quite remarkable how distinguished the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle has become.

Danoli, Dorans Pride, Istabraq and Brave Inca have all won it. Limestone Lad won it three times for the Bowe family. Remarkably, Solerina won it three more times for them again. An astonishing feat really, even it came before the era of super stables when the good horses were more spread out in this country.

Apple’s Jade came along then and became another triple winner. Then Honeysuckle won her three, to make it that three of the four hat-trick winners were mares. Another unique ribbon on the bow for the race.

Tomorrow Henry de Bromhead’s mare could eclipse the lot, both in the record books and in the history of the race. Make no mistake, this really could be special. A fourth win for Honeysuckle will open the dam to release a waterfall of goodwill from the Irish racing public.

It was a joy to hear she would be kept in training for one more year last term but the passing of young Jack de Bromhead has changed everything for his family. What happens in a horse race is trivial when it comes to such a tragedy but it’s not naive to hope that success for Honeysuckle and everything that will follow that directly after can give the de Bromheads some sort of solace.

She’s odds-on to make it a fantastic four but racing wouldn’t be the numberone sport that you’d depend on to follow the script. Even if she does indeed win tomorrow, the prospect of a monster clash with Constitution Hill was lessened to a degree with the manner of that gelding’s sensational win in the Fighting Fifth last week.

Figures

Many believe it won’t even be close should they meet at Cheltenham but in a racing world now dominated by figures, times and every other sophisticated mechanism of measuring performance, surely the plain feat of having been there and done it should carry a lot of weight.

That’s Honeysuckle. And don’t forget her performance here last year was the most impressive of her three wins, when she was allowed to chase a pace that few could live with, and it resulted in an empathic performance, similar to the Fighting Fifth last week.