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Sir Gino proved an able substitute for Seven Barrows as he waltzed to an easy success in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday.
Unbeaten in four previous starts, the Nicky Henderson-trained gelding had been pencilled in for a novice chasing campaign this season, but plans were adjusted once star hurdler Constitution Hill was ruled out of a return in the Newcastle showpiece. One of the leading juvenile hurdlers last season, Sir Gino achieved a first Grade 1 when taking the 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree in April, having missed the Cheltenham Festival.
The four-year-old was expected to face stiff opposition from joint-favourite Mystical Power, successful at Grade 1 company at Aintree and Punchestown last season, but the Willie Mullins'-trained gelding failed to fire, weakening with four-to-jump. In contrast, Sir Gino was always cruising under jockey Nico de Boinville and kicked home at the second-last flight, beating Lump Sum by eight lengths. Outsider Kihavah finished third, four-and-a-half lengths further adrift.
In an interview with ITV Racing, De Boinville said: "You get a good reception every time you come up here the crowd is unbelievable. But we're delighted we had Sir Gino there today. Very grateful to the racecourse for putting the ground on today because it's taken all week, but they got it right which was great.
"He was very fresh early doors and I just had to sort of switch him off for a bit. He's missed one down the side, that was the only mistake he made. Apart from that he sort of seemed to learn from it and pinged them all up the straight and seemed to have finished well."
Trainer Nicky Henderson was clearly relieved by the result, saying: "He's very, very good and we've always believed that he has got to prove it and I think he's taken another step in that direction. He's a seriously talented horse.
"[The puff of the cheeks] was relief. We've been probably vociferous in our opinion of him and some people would probably doubt but you've got to go and do it haven't you? If you think it's good you've got to do it."
"He's so good at [chasing]. You haven't seen a horse over fences like [he] can. It's unbelievable. He's as good as I've seen.
"We have to see how things pan out because we're not going to go into the sort of Constitution Hill here and now because it's pointless (he's fine by the way, we'll leave that at that). We've got a conundrum to come this Christmas Hurdle and don't forget Joe [Donnelly] owns State Man as well, so, you know, we've got to try and play the game to suit his cards as well. That would sort of say do we really need to be going chasing this year I have to admit."
Despite question marks over Sir Gino's likely targets, Paddy Power shortened the gelding from 11/2 to 3/1 for the Champion Hurdle in March.
