Nicky Henderson: Profile, Record, Horses & Earnings

Nicky Henderson is Britain's most successful trainer at the Cheltenham Festival, with the Seven Barrows supremo trailing only Willie Mullins in the all-time Cotswolds roll of honour. 

Henderson has been amongst Britain's most respected and liked trainers for more than four decades and he is showing no sign of slowing down.

Age: 74

Cheltenham wins: 73

Total Cheltenham winnings: £13,985,229

Net worth: £8,000,000 (estimated)

About Nicky Henderson

Nicky Henderson is one of the most recognisable faces and voices of British National Hunt racing and has been established at the top of the game for four decades.

His Seven Barrows base is synonymous with a long list of racing greats since he took out his license back in 1978.

Henderson rode 75 winners as an amateur jockey and was also assistant trainer to Fred Winter before going solo.

He is revered as a trainer with immense patience, taking his time with talented horses to maximise their potential and his willingness to show restraint has led to some major successes when some of his stable stars have suffered major career setback only to be nursed back to full fitness by the Master of Seven Barrows.

His father, Johnny Henderson, was one of the founders of the Racecourse Holdings Trust and has a race named after him at the Cheltenham Festival. Henderson himself was educated at Eton College and was awarded an OBE in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to horse racing.

Nicky Henderson age

Henderson was born on 10th December 1950, making him 74-years-old.

Nicky Henderson Net Worth

As of 2024, Henderson's net worth was estimated to be approximately £8m.

Nicky Henderson Horses

Henderson has trained some all-time greats of the jumping game. He made his big breakthrough with See You Then, who won three successive Champion Hurdles at Cheltenham from 1985-1987.

Henderson has an unmatched tally of winners in the Champion Hurdle, with the likes of Punjabi (2009), Binocular (2010), Buveur d'Air (2017, 2018), Epatante (2020) adding to his haul, while 2023 winner Constitution Hill is favourite to regain the mantle in 2025 and push his trainer into double figures.

His first Cheltenham Gold Cup arrived via Long Run in 2011 to complete his set of Championship races in the Cotswolds and a second came from Bobs Worth in 2013.

He won the Stayers' Hurdle with Rustle (1989) and Bacchanal (2000), while he has six Queen Mother Champion Chase wins via Remittance Man (1992), Finian's Rainbow (2012), Sprinter Sacre (2013, 2016) and Altior (2018, 2019).

Sprinter Sacre's two wins in the Queen Mother Champion Chase were divided by three years and a litany of health woes that threatened his career, with his return to the top viewed by many as one of Henderson's greatest feats.

Altior meanwhile set a record for a jumps horse with 19 consecutive wins from October 2015 to April 2019, including winning at four straight Cheltenham Festivals.

Nicky Henderson Achievements

Henderson has been crowned champion jumps trainer in Britain on six occasions, spanning from the 1985/86 season through to 2019/20, a remarkable achievement given his Seven Barrows operation has always been regarded as a quality over quantity set-up.

His current tally of 73 winners at the Cheltenham Festival is second only to the imperious Willie Mullins.

Henderson is no stranger to success on the Flat, too, winning the Cesarewitch at Newmarket three times with Landing Light (2003), Caracciola (2008) and Buzz (2021), while he has also sampled success at Royal Ascot.

He has won most of the major Grade 1 races in Britain in his career and has often sent some of his brightest stars to Punchestown in Ireland for their major spring festival. He has been leading trainer at Cheltenham three times, with his best ever haul of seven winners coming in 2012.

Nicky Henderson Best Jockey

Mick Fitzgerald was the main man at Seven Barrows for many years until his retirement following a neck injury sustained in the Grand National at Aintree in 2008.

He was succeeded by Barry Geraghty for a very successful seven-year stint while AP McCoy also enjoyed plenty of winners for Henderson due to his alliance with powerful owner JP McManus.

Nico de Boinville is now the top rider at Seven Barrows and they have enjoyed lots of big-race success together with the likes of Sprinter Sacre, Altior, Shishkin, and Constitution Hill.