HENDO'S LION KIN'

Reinvented Shishkin now on course for the Ryanair

- DAVID YATES

NICKY HENDERSON declared: “We’ve got the old Shishkin back!” as his once-great two-miler reinvented himself with an imperious triumph in the Betfair Ascot Chase. 

Having made his name at National Hunt racing’s minimum distance with four victories at the highest level, Shishkin suffered his first defeat over fences when pulled up in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham last March.

The flop was excused due to a rare bone disorder but, when the nine-year-old reappeared with a laboured third in the two-mile Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown in December, Henderson (right) set his mind on a change of course.