NICKY HENDERSON’S massive Cheltenham Festival favourite Sir Gino has been pulled from his crucial prep race with an injury.
The awesome novice chaser was big odds-on favourite to land tomorrow’s Game Spirit Chase at Newbury.
That was to be his final run before next month’s Arkle where he is set for a blockbuster clash with Willie Mullins’ Majborough.
But Henderson confirmed Sir Gino will miss Newbury this weekend due to a ‘small wound’.
He said: “Regrettably Sir Gino will be unable to run at Newbury tomorrow as he has sustained a small wound to the inside of his near hind leg which is sore, it must have occurred during routine exercise yesterday and although he is less sore this morning than last night I am afraid it will not be completely cleared by Saturday.
“We anticipate that he will be back to normal by the beginning of next week so the timing is very unfortunate.
“This will leave us with a dilemma where to go in order to get another run before the Arkle.
“The Pendil at Kempton would be an option although it is over two and a half miles which is not ideal.
“There are very few alternatives except for a newly created 2m novice at Bangor on 26th February but that is getting horribly close to Cheltenham.”
Worryingly for Cheltenham ante-post backers, news of Sir Gino’s injury has seen him drift for the Festival.
Ladbrokes pushed the Joe and Marie Donnelly-owned superstar to 8-11 from 4-6 while Majborough went from 7-4 to 2-1.
L’Eau Du Sud, who is co-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, was the big market springer, being cut to 9s from 14-1 ahead of his run on Saturday.
Cal Gildart of Ladbrokes said: “He’s still odds-on to win the Arkle, but Sir Gino’s injury has caused a stir in the market.
“There are going to be more than a few eyes on Warwick on Saturday to see whether L’Eau Du Sud maintains his unbeaten record.”
Henderson endured a torrid Festival last year, being forced to withdraw a load of top horses including the likes of Constitution Hill as a bug swept his yard.