Hot Cheltenham Festival favourite Sir Gino has suffered a last minute injury blow ahead of his final start before the big meeting. The brilliant young chaser has been the odds-on favourite for the Arkle Trophy in March, since defeating Willie Mullins star Ballyburn on his debut over fences at Christmas. He was the star of Saturday’s ITV fixture at Newbury where he was due to take on seasoned chasers in the Game Spirit Chase.
But on Friday, trainer Nicky Henderson announced there had been a setback in Sir Gino’s preparation and he would not take his chance in the 2m feature. Announced the news on his X account, he said: “We have some news to share on Sir Gino. “Regrettably Sir Gino will be unable to run at Newbury tomorrow as he has sustained a small wound to the inside of his near hind leg which is sore. “it must have occurred during routine exercise yesterday and although he is less sore this morning than last night I am afraid it will not be completely cleared by Saturday.
“We anticipate that he will be back to normal by the beginning of next week so the timing is very unfortunate.”. Henderson said he hopes he can find an alternative race in which to give Sir Gino what would be only his second start over fences before Cheltenham but conceded it won’t be straightforward. He continued: “This will leave us with a dilemma where to go in order to get another run before the Arkle.
“The Pendil at Kempton would be an option although it is over 2 ½ which is not ideal. “There are very few alternatives except for a newly created 2m novice at Bangor on 26th February but that is getting horribly close to Cheltenham.”. Sir Gino, who is undefeated in all six starts, was among the Henderson stars forced to miss last year’s Festival having been favourite for the Triumph Hurdle. Get email updates with the day's biggest stories.
