No Sir Gino, but Super Saturday still a must watch at Newbury Racecourse
Two Grade 2 chases are the highlight on Newbury’s Super Saturday card, although Nicky Henderson’s Sir Gino will no longer make his long-awaited return to the track.
Read below to discover the latest tips and a full preview of the Super Saturday card at Newbury courtesy of Sporting Life.
The opening contest on Saturday’s card is off at 1.15pm with the class three novices’ hurdle over the two-mile trip and eight runners are set to line up.
Tutti Quanti looks the one to beat in the opener for trainer Paul Nicholls, a winner at Ffos Las earlier this season having finished runner up twice prior so further improvement is expected.
Kientzheim looks the next best for the Henderson yard, who belied market weakness to score at Kempton 44 days ago having been recruited from the French ranks.
Race two on the card is a three-mile handicap hurdle, once again in class three.
Plenty are in with a shout but Kruger Park rates the pick of the weights with the form of his latest Uttoxeter third working out well so this course winner could bring up an early double for trainer Nicholls.
Recent Ffos Las scorer Up For Parol heads the list of dangers, although a solid case can also be made for Magical King, The Four Sixes, Santos Blue and Haiti Couleurs in a competitive handicap.
The first Grade 2 on the card is up next with the Denman Chase and a field of eight will take on the two-mile and seven furlong trip to win the top prize of £48,408.
Djelo misfired at Windsor three weeks ago but his impressive victory at Huntingdon prior to that is still fresh in the mind and there is a feeling this high-class chaser is yet to peak for the Venetia Williams team, particularly granted this sort of test.
Nicholls has a strong hand with Hitman and Bravemansgame, and perhaps the former can grab second in this for the third year running.
It was set to be all about the brilliant Sir Gino at 3pm in the Grade 2 Game Spirit Chase, but a late injury has scuppered those plans.
Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson confirmed in a statement on X that, “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.
“We anticipate that he will be back to normal by the beginning of next week so the timing is very unfortunate.”
We have some news to share on Sir Gino.
— Nicky Henderson (@sevenbarrows) February 7, 2025
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…
The sky is still the limit for Sir Gino, who produced a breath-taking round of jumping on his first go over fences at Kempton at Christmas, destroying multiple Grade 1-winner Ballyburn in the process, and is still expected to contest the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival next month.
A typically strong renewal of the class one hurdle at 3.35 is up next, in which it might be worth siding with Favour And Fortune to bounce back to form.
Alan King's charge has had the form of last spring's Ayr Champion success franked on a few occasions and still looks on a good mark.
The penultimate race of the day can go the way of Herakles Westwood, who still looks ahead of his mark despite going up 5lb for his recent Windsor victory.
Finally, the card comes to a close with the bumper at 4.45 and a field of 11 will line up for the two-mile trip around Newbury.
Preference in the finale at the top of the list is Sober Glory, trained by Phillip Hobbs, who has passed each of his three tests so far in bumpers and sets the high standard here as he aims for a fourth win on the spin.
Newbury selections - Saturday (via Cheltenham betting)
1.15 - Tutti Quanti
1.50 - Kruger Park
2.25 - Djelo
3.00 - Matata
3.35 - Favour And Fortune
4.10 - Herakles Westwood
4.45 - Sober Glory
