Nicky Henderson is intending to run all five of his Champion Hurdle entries in the opening day highlight of the Cheltenham Festival.
The Seven Barrows handler has My Tent Or Yours, Hargam, Peace And Co, Sign Of A Victory and Top Notch still engaged in the Grade 1 contest, and is preparing the quintet to run.
The absence of last year’s winner Faugheen has opened the race up, with My Tent Or Yours the leading contender for Henderson.
My Tent Or Yours finished second to Jezki in the Champion Hurdle two years ago, but hasn’t run since finishing third in the Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr in April 2014.
Last year’s Triumph Hurdle 1-2-3 Peace And Co, Top Notch and Hargam are on course for the race, although Sign Of A Victory will need good ground to take his chance.
“Michael Dickinson had the first five in the Gold Cup, but that won’t happen,” Henderson told Racing UK. “If it won’t happen to Willie Mullins, it won’t happen to us.
“The five that are still in are intended to run. Sign Of A Victory, I have to say, will only run if it’s really good ground and, even if it threatened to get good, they will try and water it out, especially on the Tuesday, so we’d have to think about it.”
Henderson is looking forward to getting My Tent Or Yours back on the track and insists the absence of Faugheen hasn’t altered his Champion Hurdle plans.
He added: “The Champion Hurdle has been the objective all the way through. He’s just had stupid little niggly issues, like a sore shin, but not sore shins, he just had one. We’ve just had to do two months’ work in one, which is never great, but it’s going well at the moment.
“My Tent Or Yours is the one horse who’s got Champion Hurdle form, apart from Faugheen, and it’s not surprising they’re thinking about switching Annie Power there as well, but we’ve got form with a lot of the others.
“If you take Top Notch’s Fighting Fifth run (second to Identity Thief), he doesn’t have to prove himself to be very far away from the top of that issue. He would love it soft and Hargam would like it good. There was nothing between them as four-year-olds, and Peace And Co as well.
“We’ll have a go. It opens it up without Faugheen, there’s no doubt about that, but we were going to run with or without Faugheen.”
