Nicky Henderson Reveals Sir Gino Will Run Over Fences This Season

Top trainer Nicky Henderson has revealed that his promising juvenile hurdler from last season Sir Gino will be campaigned over fences this term – meaning he’ll stay away from stablemate Constitution Hill and the Champion Hurdle.

Unbeaten Sir Gino An Exciting Prospect Over Fences

The Seven Barrows camp, which is headed up by four-time British Champion trainer Nicky Henderson, has announced that their unbeaten hurdler from last term – SIR GINO – will go straight over fences this horse racing season.

Sir Gino, who came to Henderson with a win over hurdles in , continued the winning thread last season by winning three times – with the last of those an impressive 3 1/4 length win over Kargese in the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree (watch below).

That success came a month after the 4 year-old had to miss the 2024 Cheltenham Festival and his intended target the Triumph Hurdle due to the poor form of the yard in the build-up to the biggest jumps meeting of the season.

It was thought that being only 4 years-old (going on 5), a season over hurdles would be next for his French-bred and a possible clash with the likes of Constitution Hill, who is also trained by Henderson, and Lossiemouth.

However, connections have decided against this and run in chase races during the 2024-25 – with the Arkle Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival surely one of his main targets.

Where and When Will Sir Gino’s First Chase Run Be?

Nicky Henderson has pencilled in a Novice Chase at Kempton on Sunday November 25th, which is over 2m2f, for Sir Gino’s first run over fences.

Which is also same race stable stars Altior and Shishkin both won on their chasing debuts.

Unbeaten Hurdler Been Schooling Well Over Fences

Henderson added via his Unibet blog “Sir Gino has already schooled over fences and jumps very well, so I think the thing to do is go down this route and if things don’t go to plan, we can always revert back to hurdles, which we did very successfully with Buveur D’Air a few years ago, and there’s nothing to say we can’t do that again if we have to, but for the time being I’d like to go chasing and he’s coming along very nicely.”

Sir Gino Shortens In Arkle Novices’ Chase Market

As a result, Sir Gino has tightened up in the market for the Arkle with the best horse racing betting sites in the UK – but still remains behind the top Irish pairing of Ballyburn and Firefox.

However, the last 5 year-old to win the Arkle Novices’ Chase was Voy Por Ustedes in 2006. Before that it was Well Chief in 2004.

After much deliberation we’ve decided to start Sir Gino over fences this season.

Really looking forward to seeing what he can achieve over the larger obstacles.

More to follow.

— Nicky Henderson (@sevenbarrows) November 12, 2024

 

Sir Gino Career In Numbers

WATCH: Henderson Star Winning The 2024 Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree