- Sir Gino is a highly-rated horse and odds-on for the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham
- Henderson, though, was forced to withdraw horse, but the injury is not untoward
Nicky Henderson is working out a new plan for Sir Gino after his flamboyant novice was denied the chance to light up Newbury’s Super Saturday card.
Sir Gino is one of the most exciting horses in training and is already odds-on for the Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival; Henderson unleashed the five-year-old over fences at Kempton in December and wanted the next part of his education to be in the Grade Two Game Spirit Chase.
To give an idea of how highly Henderson regards Sir Gino, he let Sprinter Sacre and Altior – two of the very best he trained – run in the Game Spirit as novices and the expectation was that Joe and Marie Donnelly’s star would have a comfortable excursion before heading to Cheltenham.
Such is the buzz around him, Henderson’s great rival Willie Mullins described Sir Gino this week as ‘having the potential to be anything and he’s going to be a tough one to beat.’
The plan is now up in the air, though, as Henderson was forced to withdraw Sir Gino, leaving five runners to go to post. The injury is nothing untoward but the timing is awful and there is no question that the star attraction’s absence has robbed the weekend of some of its excitement.
Henderson may have a number of other outstanding chances on the card, not least two runners for JP McManus – Joyuese is a mare who is expected to go close in the historic William Hill Hurdle (335), while a big run is anticipated from Kientzheim (115) in the opening contest.
But his thoughts are revolving around Sir Gino. The Arkle is four weeks on Tuesday and Henderson wants to get another run into him over fences before he takes on Champion trainer Mullins’s big hope Majborough and Dan Skelton’s L’Eau du Sud, who runs at Warwick (205) on Saturday.
‘Regrettably Sir Gino will be unable to run at Newbury as he has sustained a small wound to the inside of his near hind leg which is sore,’ said Henderson. ‘It must have occurred during routine exercise (on Thursday). We anticipate he will be back to normal by the beginning of next week.
‘So the timing is very unfortunate. This will leave us with a dilemma where to go, in order to get another run before the Arkle. The Pendil Chase at Kempton would be an option (on February 22) although it is over two-and-a-half miles, which is not ideal.
‘There are very few alternatives except for a newly created two-mile novice at Bangor-on-Dee on 26th February but that is getting horribly close to Cheltenham.’
