What promised to be an informative day of racing at Cheltenham on Trials Day didn’t go to plan on course, unfortunately.
A tough day of racing, one big injury, and a huge piece of controversy with the last race, and this wasn’t your typical feel-good Cheltenham Festival build-up.
Sir Gino Injured in International Hurdle
Forget the winners of Festival Trials Day, there’s only one talking point to grab the headlines, and that was the awful scenes where Sir Gino went wrong in the International Hurdle and was pulled up.
I’ll be honest and say I feared the worst when I saw it, but since then, the prognosis has improved, if only very slightly.
The latest from Nicky Henderson about his superstar horse was that he sustained a pelvic injury and that the injury is a fracture. Still, there’s yet to be any confirmation around how serious the fracture is.
He then explained that the horse was stable and comfortable, which was fantastic news to read after such an event. A couple of journalists, including ITV, when interviewing Henderson, have gone on to say that this is career-threatening, rather than life-threatening.
What comes next? Who knows, but I suspect we’ll get an injury timeline at some point in the coming week. I won’t speculate or guess, just hope that somehow this turns out to be better than expected, and Sir Gino can race again, or if not, live a happy and healthy retirement.
Racing in the Dark
We don’t usually go too long without racing making itself look a little foolish, and the final race of the day at Cheltenham saw racing once again prove that sometimes, things are just not good enough.
A delay on the track, caused allegedly by a misplaced piece of drainage, leaving a big hole, led to the final race being run 29 minutes later than advertised. It was getting dark, and you could just about see fine on course, but the problems came after horses had crossed the finishing line.
It was a close finish, requiring a photo. The only problem was that we couldn’t see the photo because of the lack of light.
📸 Here is the photo-finish between Kripticjim and Taurus Bay for the final race at Cheltenham after a lengthy delay due to a hole in the ground https://t.co/9PzIkSBQ33 pic.twitter.com/wV0THbWUID
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) January 24, 2026
Casual watchers of the sport who saw the photo finish on social media would have been laughing and wondering what on earth was going on.
Did The New Lion Enhanced His Champion Hurdle Chances?
The New Lion won the International Hurdle, in what should have been a match against Sir Gino, but did he enhance his Champion Hurdle chances with the win?
Based on what he actually did, I’d say not. But what we did get from him is that he’s definitely not a horse for a slow two-mile contest. He needs them to go much quicker.
If you’re backing him for the Champion Hurdle, and I think I am, you’ve got to trust in the fact that he is much better than what we’ve seen so far, when he gets a race run like he needs.
I always thought he wouldn’t get that, until the Champion Hurdle, so I’m not too concerned yet, but a few might be, if they thought he’d win that with ease after Sir Gino was pulled up.
Grey Dawning Beaten, What Next for Spillane’s Tower?
I expected Grey Dawning to win the Cotswold Chase, even though I don’t fancy him for the Gold Cup, but he couldn’t even do that.
If you’re a Grey Dawning fan, the words of Dan Skelton afterwards may give you a little hope. It sounded to me like he wasn’t 100% ready and would improve a little for the run.
A mistake two out put paid to his chances, though he did stay on again afterwards. Having said that, I still think there are plenty of others in the Gold Cup that will stay much better than him.
Winner on the day, way Spillane’s Tower, I thought he did it well, but I’ve no idea where he goes next. A JP McManus runner, the general feeling is that he’ll wait and go wherever makes most sense, depending on other runners.
Fact To File and Inothewayurthinkin are the other two McManus runners, you’d expect they’ll split between the Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase, two going to the Gold Cup probably, and one to the Ryanair.
Ma Shantou Slashed for Stayers Hurdle
Few know how to win the Cleeve Hurdle more than Emma Lavelle, who won the race three times with fan favourite Paisley Park. She’s now got a new Stayers Hurdle contender in her ranks, as Ma Shantou leapt into contention for the race.
A 50/1 chance for the Stayers before this race, he’s now just 6/1 after coming away in great style to beat Impose Toi, who had been dominating the British staying division until this.
You definitely don’t need to worry about him coming up the hill. He relished it and pulled away to win by seven lengths in the end.
Maestro Conti Set for Triumph Hurdle
Finally, Dan Skelton holds the strongest British runner for the Triumph Hurdle, according to the betting, after Maestro Conti made it two from two on British soil with another nice victory.
Cut from 10/1 to 7/1 for a race which is being dominated by Ireland in the market. He’s the shortest British runner in the betting, and looked really impressive coming up the Cheltenham hill, and then going away to win by two lengths.
There’s still plenty to take place before Cheltenham, with plenty of the fancied Triumph runners expected to run again in the next couple of weeks, but right now, the market is wide open.