Sir Gino retired with suspected pelvic injury in International Hurdle

On an afternoon when Britain’s National Hunt fans had expected to be looking for potential winners at the festival’s March meeting, they left here hoping for positive news about Nicky Henderson’s Sir Gino. The sport’s most exciting prospect was picked up with a suspected pelvic injury during the International Hurdle.

Sir Gino went into Saturday’s grade two race as clear favorite for the Champion Hurdle in March, having gone unbeaten for seven starts, including a brilliant win for the novice Chase at Kempton in December 2024. He was held up last of the four runners when Nemean Lion cut off the run and was held up by Nico de Boinville shortly after jumping the third-to-last flight.

“They were able to put him in the ambulance,” Henderson said. “It’s his right hind leg and it appears to be high, so there’s no lower extremity fracture. It looks like a pelvic injury.”

“He’s loaded and I’d rather they take him to Three Counties Animal Hospital [in Tewkesbury] without unloading here. Then they can assess and scan and just see where we are.

“Pelvic injuries can be minor or major, so we have to keep an eye on everything. That’s all we know tonight. They need a chance to assess him, so it will be late, I expect.”

In a statement on

“This is great news for all of us. The prognosis is being monitored and further investigations over the coming days whilst he is there will be able to determine the extent of the injury and any prognosis for the future. Thank you to everyone for their messages and concerns which are much appreciated and we will keep everyone informed of any further news but the fact that he is feeling comfortable tonight is the most important thing. Thank you.”

The New Lion, second favorite for Saturday’s race and ahead of the Champion Hurdle, stayed up the hill to beat Nemean Lion by a length and a half but returned to a subdued winner’s stay as fans waited for news on Sir Gino.

“I’m a big fan of this sport,” said Dan Skelton, trainer of The New Lion. “Sir Gino could be the best horse in training and we just didn’t need that. The team at Seven Barrows have gone through hell to get him back on track and hopefully he’s all right.”

The New Lion was reduced to around 5-2 for the Champion Hurdle after his win and Skelton said: “We had to get a clear round after that [falling in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at] Newcastle and Harry [Skelton, The New Lion’s jockey] did exactly what I wanted him to do and kept him at the bottom of all the jumps.

“The unanswered question with this horse is the speed angle and he showed a lot of speed at Newcastle despite ending up on the ground. There too he showed a lot of speed from the turn to the last, and then from the last to the line.”

Skelton, the clear leader in the race for the 2025-26 National Hunt trainers’ championship, had seen his leading Gold Cup prospect, Gray Dawning, finish third of the four runners behind Spillane’s Tower in the Grade Two Cotswold Chase.

Jack Kennedy was aboard Spillane’s Tower for the first time since Jimmy Mangan’s gelding split Fact To File and Galopin Des Champs during a memorable run of the John Durkan Memorial Chase in 2024. He exuded confidence in the eight-year-old before accelerating L’Homme Presse on the run up the hill.

This was a significant and impressive return to form for Spillane’s Tower after two poor runs over hurdles this season. He was reduced from 50-1 to 10-1 by Paddy Power for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, in a market still looking for a clear favourite.

“It’s my first [winner in Britain] since Monty’s Pass [in the 2003 Grand National]Mangan said. “I would have gone back to Ireland a disappointed man if he had put in a bad show today. I guess you have to start dreaming of the Gold Cup and he is now in that class.”

The Trials Day card ended in near darkness after the final race was postponed about 30 minutes due to the discovery of a hole in the turf, prompting an inspection and reconfiguration of the course.

Nicky Henderson withdrew the likely favourite, Act Of Innocence, and the final result – a narrow victory for Joe Tizzard’s Kripticjim at Taurus Bay – was only announced after lengthy examination of a photo-finish photograph taken in the very last light and then further reference to video footage.

“As far as I can tell, you can’t see the photo because it’s too dark,” said Taurus Bay coach Ben Pauling, “so they have to use video footage and in my view that’s the deciding factor. [that] Joe’s horse wins by a head.’

Harry Redknapp, the owner of Taurus Bay, was also philosophical. “It was strange, wasn’t it, it was a strange old age,” said Redknapp. “I thought he was beaten there at the finish, but I won a King George by a nose [with The Jukebox Man in December] and I can’t quite enjoy it, I think.

Jon Pullin, Cheltenham’s track director, later told Racing TV that the problem was “a single hole” in the track. “It was a single hole, there were no other holes,” Pullin said. “It was about a foot deep, there was a hole under it, we left the area, checked the area where we had to race and all the competitors happily moved on.

“It could be [a drainage hole]it is still too early to say anything about this at this stage. We need to do further research to understand what exactly causes it.

“We need time to understand what caused this incident and we will start doing that immediately.”