3 minute read
Nicky Henderson’s fine couple of days continued when Sir Gino made a sparkling chasing debut to down Ballyburn in the Grade 2 Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Friday.
Just 24 hours after Constitution Hill returned from a year off the track to defeat Lossiemouth in the Christmas Hurdle, Nicky Henderson was once again seen smiling in the winners' enclosure at Kempton.
It was again billed as a battle between Henderson and Mullins, and it didn't take long to realise that the Grade 2 prize was going to be fought out between the duo, with the pair exchanging early blows as they went toe-to-toe in what was quickly developing into a fascinating dual of novice chasers.
Ballyburn initially held the upper hand, but Nico de Boinville soon allowed his mount his head and with the minimum of fuss, Sir Gino leapt his way to the head of affairs at the fourth fence. Ballyburn, a three-time Grade 1 winner over hurdles and almost faultless on his chasing debut at Punchestown, tried his hardest to match last year's leading juvenile hurdler in Britain, but he continued to come off second best in the jumping department.
Sir Gino warmed to the task over his fences and in tandem, de Boinville began to wind up the tempo as the field turned for home. The well-backed 8/13 favourite barely had to be asked to extend the advantage up the straight and Ballyburn was soon left chasing shadows. Sir Gino had to be clever at the final fence, but he and Nico de Boinville negotiated it safely before cruising clear for an impressive seven-and-a-half lengths, with Ballyburn surviving a fairly shuddering error at the last to finish second.
Sir Gino was cut to evens favourite (from 11-4) by Paddy Power for the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival, while runner-up Ballyburn was trimmed to 3/1 (from 4s) for the three-mile Brown Advisory Novices' Chase.
"It was a bit sketchy over the first," said De Boinville. "But in fairness, by the time we turned down the side towards the open ditch, it all clicked.
"He's so quick back on the ground after taking off that he's just taking lengths in the air. We knew he had the engine; it was just a case of whether he could put it all together.
"He's got an enormous engine, but it's amazing round here as the fences come up really fast and you have to stay. You have to be able to jump at speed and think quickly.
"I'd say he's exceeded my expectations, and I'd say he's progressed for a fence as well. He's an absolute monster and we're so delighted."
Henderson's top-class juvenile hurdler was forced to miss the Cheltenham Festival due to well-documented problems with the Lambourn-based handler's yard at the time. However, Sir Gino didn't have to wait long to gain a first Grade 1 success when he went on to beat Triumph Hurdle runner-up Kargese at Aintree before proving more than an able deputy for the sidelined Constitution Hill in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth at Newcastle.
Henderson said: "A couple of months ago Charlie Morlock (assistant trainer), Nico and I took him out early one morning to have a little look of him over fences. It was in the dark and we thought we'd do it just so everybody didn't see it, but I promise you by the time we got back, everybody had backed him for the Arkle, and they hadn't even seen it!
"He was very good, so we knew we had the option to switch, and then it became necessary to bring him into the Fighting Fifth because we weren't ready with the boy from yesterday (Constitution Hill). He came in not as the sub because he's a very good horse in his own right, but if they were going to both make it down the Champion Hurdle road, one of them had to beat the other in simple terms.
"We schooled Sir Gino again over fences and he was just the same – he has so much scope. It just seemed the natural thing to do with the (four-year-old) allowance and he's a genuine two-miler.
"If you remember his first run over hurdles here, he broke six of them! That was my fault because I hadn't really schooled him properly, I just assumed because he'd come from France over those Auteuil hurdles, he'd jump English ones.
"He's always had a huge amount of talent and this sort of track suits him really well because he's got a lot of speed.
Henderson will now look towards getting more experience into Britain's most exciting novice chaser, with both the Game Spirit at Newbury and the Kingmaker at Warwick both mooted as potential targets.
"I think he has to have another run. You could say 'what can you teach him?'. Probably not a lot, but you've just got to be respecting these things because it is all a little bit too easy for him today.
"This is a lovely place to learn without getting the big tests, which you're going to get at Sandowns, Ascots and Cheltenhams. They're different tests and you've just got to have your wits about you a little bit more than you need to round here, but this is a great place to start.
"The Game Spirit wouldn't be a bad shout. It's a good race at a good time. I like the timing of the Game Spirit. We're hardly going to use it with Jonbon so, it would be an obvious to go. The Kingmaker would be the other one I think."
He added: "We've been very lucky (with two-mile chasers). Altior was brilliant, Sprinter Sacre was just phenomenal and Remittance Man in the good old days was pretty spectacular too."