Last season’s star juvenile hurdler Sir Gino is set to embark on a career over fences this term, his trainer Nicky Henderson has confirmed.
The French import was brilliant in winning his first two starts in Britain, with a 14-length victory at Kempton over Christmas followed by a 10-length defeat of the high-class Burdett Road in a Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham in January.
The four-year-old missed the Triumph Hurdle at the Festival in March, but signed off with a comprehensive Grade One victory at Aintree and his connections have spent the summer deliberating whether to head down the Champion Hurdle route this season or switch to the larger obstacles.
On Tuesday, Sir Gino did feature among the entries for the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on November 30, the stated comeback target of his illustrious stablemate Constitution Hill.
Sir Gino gets the better of Kargese at Aintree
However, Henderson later told Unibet: “After much discussion with Joe and Marie Donnelly (owners), Nico (de Boinville) and myself, we have come to the conclusion that Sir Gino will go chasing this season.
“Obviously we have Constitution Hill, and there is also State Man (also owned by the Donnellys) who is seriously in the equation, so the decision wasn’t a relatively hard one.
“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.
“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.”
Constitution Hill is being prepared for a return in the Fighting Fifth on November 30, live on Sky Sports Racing
Sir Gino could commence his chasing career in a race the trainer has used successfully before.
He added: “The plan is to start him off at Kempton on November 25 in the two-mile-two-furlong beginners chase, which is a race we’ve used for Altior and Shishkin; it’s usually quite a ‘friendly’ race, so we think that’s where we ought to try.
“He does have an entry in the Fighting Fifth, but that is nothing more than speculative in case anything, God forbid, would mean Constitution Hill is unable to run there.”