Sir Gino put up a brilliant display to take the BetMGM Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.
In a race that was always the intended starting point for his superstar stablemate Constitution Hill before he met with a setback, Sir Gino stepped up to perform super-sub duties for Nicky Henderson’s Seven Barrows yard.
The unbeaten four-year-old had been earmarked to go novice chasing – and the way he jumped two from home suggests that will be right up his street.
However, always galloping all over his rivals up the straight, he ran right away from the rest after the last, with Nico de Boinville giving a triumphant salute aboard the 6-5 joint-favorite at the line.
Market rival Mystical Power was a big disappointment, with Mark Walsh sending out distress signals after the fourth-last aboard Willie Mullins’ five-year-old.
De Boinville was understandably suitably impressed.
He said: “First of all I’d like to thank the racecourse for the effort they made with the ground. They got it right so well played.
“He was fresh enough early doors and he jumped great. He just missed one going down the side, but that was only after I pulled him out wide in fairness. After that he seemed to learn a bit.
“He pinged all of them up the straight and he finished off well.
“I’ve got really swept up in the atmosphere here, it’s great, I’ve never had a reception like that anywhere else.
“He’s a very talented horse and we’ve always known that. To come and do it like that is impressive.
“I thought we went a nice even gallop all the way and his only semblance of a mistake was when I pulled him wide, but that was because I didn’t want to get hemmed in down the rail.
“You could see why we think he’s going to be a chaser, he’s got scope to burn.”
Lavender Hill Mob beaten on eagerly-awaited hurdling debut
Lavender Hill Mob suffered a shock reverse on his jumping debut, finishing well-beaten behind Inappropriate in the Paul Ferguson’s Jumpers To Follow ‘Introductory’ Juvenile Hurdle at Newcastle.
Seventh in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot, the reappearance of Lavender Hill Mob (2-7 favourite) had been eagerly awaited ever since trainer James Owen mentioned him favourably in post-race dispatches following the runaway Cheltenham success of stablemate East India Dock last month.
It did seem to be going relatively to plan until things started to hot up, and Nico de Boinville’s mount was treading water when the Jedd O’Keeffe-trained Inappropriate (11-2) swept clear on what was both his jumping debut and first run for his new stable after leaving Harry Eustace.
O’Keeffe, who has his small string in good form, said: “We’re very pleased, we decided to have a punt at this race. We won it a few years ago with a horse we bought at the sales (Tavus, 2019) and it was a fairly small field that day so we thought we might get a small field again.
Inappropriate (orange) heads for home
“We thought it was a nice place to start, even if he didn’t win it looked a nice place to introduce him.
“We’ve always liked him a lot at home and his jumping has always been exceptional, there’s a really nice rhythm and shape to the way he jumps and it was the same today.
“We haven’t made any plans, if there’s another race like this, quite valuable, that would be great, but I haven’t really looked beyond today in truth.”
He added: “Juvenile hurdles are different these days, there’s a lot of ex-French in them as the jumps trainers generally can’t compete with the overseas market but we managed to find him, so I’m delighted.”
