Equinties - Skelton Saturday

Gm Equinauts

No SIR GINO, but Saturday is a go! A brilliant day of racing in store with a certain trainer lining them up at his local track!

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

SIR GIN-OH!

Nicky Henderson ruled SIR GINO is out of the Game Spirit Chase yesterday.

You have to feel for Nicky Henderson in this situation - yes, Hendo might wrap them up in cotton wool, but SIR GINO is arguably the most exciting chaser the racing world has seen for a long, long time and he’s got to get him cherry ripe for Cheltenham.

Whether it’s keeping them sound or rehabbing them back from injuries, Hendo is the master at getting horses ready for the big occasion. Look what he did with SPRINTER SACRE, not many could have done that.

Yet still people are throwing stones at Hendo for not running SIR GINO because of a small cut he sustained in work

Long term lads, long term. A cut on the leg might easily turn into an infection if not treated right - it’s the difference between a couple of day off, or weeks. If it was the later, then your ante-posts really would be stuffed!

Anyway, the big question is what to do with SIR GINO, and does this affect his Arkle credentials?

Let’s start with where next? He’s a horse who ran over two miles, and did so as a juvenile, but he clearly has a mighty engine. The Pendil on the 22nd at Kempton would therefore be just about fine, though the turn around for Cheltenham would be tight. If we were betting this, we’d marginally say he might run out of time to run him.

Let’s say he doesn’t get another run and he goes to the Arkle on the back of just one chase race. In a hypothetical world where he is 100% okay from the setback, is he opposable based on the lack of experience?

Honestly, in this case, and this could be naïve, but we wouldn’t have too many worries.

We’re talking about a horse who kicked a Fighting Fifth field out the way on his first run outside of juvenile company, made CONSTITUTION HILL look like a handicapper in a gallop, and made BALLYBURN look like a statue at Kempton.

His attitude is exemplary, and his ability speaks for itself.

It wouldn’t be ideal, of course, but when it comes down to it, one would have to say that SIR GINO has more natural speed than MAJBOROUGH.

MAJBOROUGH will get further in time, he showed that in the Triumph, but SIR GINO has the ability to show him up in an Arkle.

Either way, it makes the division extra interesting, like it needed it?!

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