Sir Gino wins Christmas Hurdle and new favourite for Champion Hurdle

Nicky Henderson has experienced a rollercoaster of emotions with Sir Gino, but the trainer was rewarded with yet another brilliant performance as his superstar returned to the track after a year-long layoff to land the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle.

The five-year-old had been out of action since his breathtaking victory in the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at this course last year, having sustained an infection in the ligaments of his near hind leg after being ruled out of the Game Spirit Chase in February.

However, he roared back to action at the scene of his last success to defeat the Champion Hurdle and Fighting Fifth winner Golden Ace by six lengths under Nico de Boinville.

It has been a long road to recovery for the seven-time winner, and Henderson, who extended his tally in the race to 14, was quick to credit those involved in getting Sir Gino back to this point.

“The horse is happy, and we all are,” he said. “It’s been a tough old year, and there were bits in the middle that were pretty worrying, but everybody has done a brilliant job. He had a huge team working on him, and everyone has done their bit.

“We’ve had a very comfortable and uninterrupted preparation. There have been no recurrences [of the setback], and touch wood, it shouldn’t recur. You wouldn’t normally ride him that way as he’s got so much speed, but he really is a very quick horse. He doesn’t do anything like that at home. He just enjoyed himself out there.”

Sir Gino was made the 6-4 favourite (from 11-4) with bet365 for the Champion Hurdle, and Henderson will bide his time before deciding whether he remains over hurdles or switches back to fences.

He said: “We’ll not say we’ll do this now, let’s see how we are tomorrow, and let’s see what the lay of the land is like. There are two obvious ways: the Champion Hurdle or the Champion Chase. It’s a matter of which one.

“It seems a shame to throw away chases, but the Champion Hurdle picture might be unclear. We don’t know what we’re doing with Constitution Hill yet, but it wouldn’t be hard to see this horse in a Champion Hurdle. I think you can afford to have a season over hurdles, but I don’t really know.

“As far as the Champion Hurdle is concerned, we know from [owners] the Donnellys’ point of view that State Man isn’t there. Constitution Hill is still in all the pictures, but we’ve got to decide what to do.”

Sir Gino was going to go down the Champion Hurdle route last season having replaced Constitution Hill to win the Fighting Fifth, but ended up missing the spring portion of his campaign.

Henderson said: “You can’t help but think that Sir Gino has an outstanding chance of winning the Champion Hurdle. We were going to do that last season, but Constitution Hill was there. He won at Newcastle, and then we went chasing, but he was outstanding.

“It’s extraordinary; you’ve got one after another. It’s like when Buveur D’Air, Epatante and Binocular all came along, and the bus is still rolling, which is lovely. He’s happy to be back, and we’re all mighty relieved to see him back. He’s seriously good; it’s frightening.”

Jeremy Scott hopes Golden Ace can keep “some of her doubters at bay” after she finished a gallant second.

The trainer said: “Everything was against her – the better ground and sharp track – but she ran well. Hopefully that keeps some of her doubters at bay. That’ll be it for her now until March.”

Paul Nicholls, who trained Rubaud to finish third, said: “I was pleased with him, he’s finished behind last season’s Champion Hurdle winner and the horse who could win this season’s race.

“I might leave chasing until next season. We’ll look at races like the National Spirit and the Kingwell if the ground is right.”