Fighting Fifth: Sir Gino proves Newcastle super-sub with easy win | Racing News

Sir Gino put in a brilliant display to win 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 encountered a setback, Sir Gino stepped in to perform super-submarine duties for the Seven Barrows yard of Nicky Henderson.

The undefeated four-year-old had been earmarked to become a novice chaser – and the way he jumped two points from home suggests it will be right up his street.

However, still galloping over his rivals in the straight, he immediately pulled away from the others after the last, with Nico de Boinville saluting triumphantly aboard the 6-5 joint favorite over the line.

Market rival Mystical Power was a big disappointment, with Mark Walsh sending out distress signals after the penultimate aboard Willie Mullins’ five-year-old.

De Boinville was understandably impressed.

He said: “First of all I would like to thank the racecourse for the effort they put in with the ground. They did things well and played well.

“He was quite fresh from the start and he jumped very well. He narrowly missed one going down the side, but only afterwards did I take him out wide for the sake of fairness. Afterwards this he seemed to learn a little.

“He sent them all down the straight and finished well.

“I’m really blown away by the atmosphere here, it’s great, I’ve never had a welcome like this anywhere else.

“He’s a very talented horse and we’ve always known that. To be able to do him like this is impressive.

“I thought we had a good canter 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 stuck on the rail.

“You can see why we think he’s going to be a chaser, he’s got potential to burn.”

Lavender Hill Mob beaten in highly anticipated hurdles debut

Lavender Hill Mob suffered a shock setback on his showjumping debut, finishing well beaten behind Inappropriate in 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 favorite) had been eagerly awaited since trainer James Owen had mentioned him favorably in post-race dispatches following the dazzling success at Cheltenham of his stable partner East India Dock last month. .

It seemed to be going relatively as planned until things started to heat up, and Nico de Boinville’s mount was treading water when Inappropriate (11-2), trained by Jedd O’Keeffe, swept what was both her show jumping debut and her first run. for his new stable after leaving Harry Eustace.

O’Keeffe, whose small group is in good form, said: “We are very happy we decided to enter this race. We won it a few years ago with a horse we bought at the sales (Tavus, 2019) and the peloton was quite small that day, so we thought we could have a small peloton again.

“We thought it was a good place to start, even if he didn’t win it seemed like a good place to introduce him.

“We’ve always really liked him at home and his jumps have 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 was another race like this, quite interesting, that would be great, but I haven’t really looked beyond today really.

He added: “Juvenile hurdles are different these days, there are a lot of old French guys because jumps trainers usually can’t compete with the overseas market but we managed to find it so I’m delighted.”