Find out everything you need to know about the six-time Champion National Hunt trainer, Nicky Henderson.
1. Nicky Henderson was born on 10 December 1950. He is one of Britain and Ireland’s leading National Hunt trainers.
2. He is the son of the prolific racing personality Johnny Henderson who founded the Racecourse Holdings Trust (now the Jockey Club Racecourses) and is famously known as the man who “saved Cheltenham” in the early sixties.
3. Before starting his career as a National Hunt trainer Nicky was a successful amateur jockey and assistant to trainer Fred Winter for four years, before taking out his own trainer’s licence in 1978.
4. His first major win came in the 1985 Cheltenham Festival Champion Hurdle with See You Then. See You Then won the race twice more in 1986 and 1987. He still remains one of only five horses to win the Champion Hurdle three times. More recently Henderson won the Champion Hurdle with Punjabi in 2009, Binocular in 2010, Buveur D’Air in 2017 and 2018 and Epatante in 2020.
5. Arguably his greatest feat was training the six-year-old Long Run to win the King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season (2010-11).
6. Other notable wins include the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1992 with Remittance Man and again in 2012 with Finian’s Rainbow, the 2009 JCB Triumph Hurdle with Zaynar, the 2012 Arkle Challenge Trophy with Sprinter Sacre and the 2000 World Hurdle with Bacchanal, and Altior, who has won two Queen Mother Champion Chases (2018 and 2019) the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2016 and the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 2017.
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11. He is married to Diana and has three daughters; Sarah, Camilla and Tessa.
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
