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Ballyburn ran to form for me as they had Rubaud blown off the track and he’s a decent yardstick. Last years 2m novices aren’t looking great this season so he may be another Appreciate it type. A good horse but nothing special. He’ll be going up in trip no doubt but I would take The Jukebox Man over him any day also.
Sir Gino is just a sublime talent on another level.
Might be unwise to be too dismissive of Ballyburn’s ability after the trainer tried him as a 2 mile chaser after winning the 2 miles 5 Turners (or whatever it’s called now), and getting it wrong. I don’t think Majborough is a 2 miler in the Sir Gino class either btw, I like that horse but he’s another who i think would be better over further.
The top novices/ juveniles of 2023/24 all going straight over fences is an issue for me. No wonder there’s very little depth in 2m hurdling…….
Imagine them all over hurdles…..
I quickly saw the title of this thread and assumed Arkle comparison’s not the race were being made.
After the previous race, as the horse jumped the last and went away it fully reminded of Arkle.
This one will step up to three miles in time, be more of a beast, and become a legend at least par with Arkle.
Are Timeform going to assign the office junior to rating Sir Gino? That’s the only way he’s going to rival Arkle.
Henderson has stated that the horse is a pure two-miler, so there has to be a doubt about his ever being stepped up in trip.
Why would you even bother stepping him up in distance? Henderson already tried that with the horse undefeated over two miles and it was a disaster.
Given his youth, there might be at least 3 Champion Chases at Sir Gino’s mercy if he stays fit and well.
I see Sir Gino is priced up at 9/2 to win the Arkle and next years Champion Chase
I remember getting on Shishkin around the late February time for the same bet at 33/1 and he had already had a festival win and facing easier opposition moving forward
albeit Sir Gino does looks a class above and if winning the Arkle moving forward would be potentially taking on the horse that won Shishkins Champion Chase Energumene?, stablemate Jonbon? who knows where Gaelic Warrior will be running?Charles Darwin to conquer the World
I would have loved to see him have a crack at the champion hurdle this year. Would have made for one of the better renewals for years. Interesting as well as the switching between hurdles/chasing was partly put down to the ownership having State Man for the CH. Since State Man has been well and truly put in his place, you do wonder why the Donnelly’s wouldn’t advocate a switch back to hurdling now?
Looks a good bunch of Novice Chasers this year but Gino looks tailor made for the Arkle whilst Ile Atantique, Ballyburn, Majborough and Jukebox Man look suited to longer. Hopefully a big display in the irish Arkle will throw up his main challenger.
“you do wonder why the Donnelly’s wouldn’t advocate a switch back to hurdling now?”
He has lost his novice status for next season having run in a novice chase this season so they may as well get on with it.
Plus if Constitution Hill is anywhere near his best would Sir Gino be wasting a Cheltenham win by going for the Chanpion Hurdle as that first chase performance was damned impressive.
The more I know the less I understand.
Both good points. I suppose i was intimating that the original switch was certainly more to suit the stable than the owner at the time. However, the owner now has a fighting fifth hurdle and a wayward lad. If they had stuck to plan A, at this point, Sir Gino may have had little more than a class 3 Novice Chase to his name this season.
Energueme will be 12 years old if taking part in next year’s Champion Chase, Nathan. Vast majority of 11 year olds are on the downgrade, let alone 12 year olds. Can’t see Energueme being a danger to Sir Gino next year.
Value Is EverythingSir Gino is out of tomorrow’s Game Spirit.
Speaking to the Racing Post, his trainer Nicky Henderson said: “He was perfectly fine on Thursday and he came back from his exercise perfectly alright. He just had a bang on his hind leg in the evening, which is sore.“We think, and hope, he’ll be all right by Monday, but there’s no race for him on Monday. He’s not going to be doing anything for 24 hours and he’ll be working on the water treadmill for a couple of days, and I hope he’ll be back in action. It’s what our vets think.”
I reckon Henderson should take a leaf out of the Mario Balotelli (footballer, played for Man City) book, who had the slogan ‘Why Always Me’ printed on a T-shirt that he displayed after scoring a goal.
He could have it included on all the Unibet jackets.
Here we go was really looking forward to that tomorrow but probably my fault I stuck him in my TRF Ten to Follow.
The more I know the less I understand.
Yes, here we go again. Now I expect Henderson will be whining about there being “nowhere to go” or everything being “too close to Cheltenham” and how he “wishes there was another week” (because the poor little darling cannot possibly race twice within a month).
Will Sir Gino even run in the Arkle now? Henderson wouldn’t usually send anything there after only one run.
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