Henderson expecting Newbury ‘education’ for Sir Gino

Nicky Henderson thinks Sir Gino will learn more by lining up in Saturday’s William Hill Game Spirit Chase at Newbury than he would sticking to novice company.

While the exciting five-year-old does hold an entry in the Kingmaker at Warwick, where he would clash with Dan Skelton’s L’Eau Du Sud, Henderson prefers to keep him closer to home.

That means taking on last year’s winner of the race Edwardstone, who has also won a Tingle Creek Chase, and the improving pair of Matata and Libberty Hunter.

Having run both Sprinter Sacre and Altior in the race as novices, though, it is a familiar route for Henderson.

“He’s in good shape, he schooled last week and did a nice gallop on Saturday, he’s in good form,” the trainer told Sky Sports Racing.

“We think this is the road to (Cheltenham). It’s always a very good race but we’re using it as a prep, it’s education more than anything else.

“There’s a lot of reasons why he’s running, I just think Newbury is a nice place to go, it’s a great track for novices. We’ve used it before, I think it’s important that Nico (de Boinville) stays on him, so it wouldn’t have been convenient with all the other races at Newbury on Saturday (if he went to Warwick).

“By and large we said we’d come here, it will be competitive and the older horses will test him a bit more, their experience might rub off. They’ll go a good gallop, that’s for sure.

“If you went for an ordinary novice he’d probably end up making the running, I don’t say I don’t want him to make the running but he’ll learn more not doing it. There’s Matata and Edwardstone – he made all in this last year – and JPR One is a decent horse too, they’ll go a good gallop.”

Willie Mullins’ Majborough, last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner, cemented his position as Sir Gino’s big rival in the novice ranks by winning the Irish Arkle at the weekend, and Henderson was suitably impressed.

“I thought he was very impressive, he won really well and he’s the best of their two-mile novices, there’s no doubt about it,” said Henderson.

“It’s strange, the Arkle market is held together by two five-year-olds, that wouldn’t happen very often. We weren’t at Cheltenham while Majborough was and then we came in at Aintree.”