NICKY HENDERSON’S Sir Gino supersub who ‘oozes class’ has seen his odds slashed for Cheltenham Festival.
Seven Barrows boss Hendo was left reeling earlier this week when he was forced to pull the plug on his star novice’s campaign.
Will the hugely promising Jango Baie prove a worthy supersub for Sir Gino in the Arkle?[/caption]
Odds-on Arkle fav Sir Gino remains ‘critical’ in hospital after a wound he picked up at home got infected.
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It means Willie Mullins’ Majborough has assumed the role of odds-on Arkle favourite in his place.
But Henderson hasn’t given up on the race entirely – and told Matt Chapman’s Unbridled podcast he is throwing a new name into the ring.
The mightily impressive Jango Baie has never finished outside the top two in his seven-race career.
He was an awesome six-and-a-half length winner of a Class 2 Cheltenham handicap last December.
And was beaten a short head at Grade 1 level by Handstands when last seen in the 2m4f Scilly Isles at Sandown earlier this month.
Jango Baie was 20-1 at the start of the week but has now been hammered into 8-1.
He’s now third-fav for the day one contest, behind Majborough and Dan Skelton’s 4-1 second-fav L’Eau Du Sud.
Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: “L’Eau Du Sud looked like the one to watch of the Arkle outsiders, but we’ve seen enough interest in Jango Baie over the last few days for our traders to slash his odds, and then some.”
A sign of how much Henderson loves Jango Baie is that he gave him his chasing debut at Cheltenham.
The legendary handler is reluctant to run novices over the searching Prestbury Park track.
But Jango Baie passed that test with flying colours when sent off 7-4 under Nico de Boinville.
Although seemingly not an out and out two-miler, Jango Baie did win a Grade 1 hurdle race – the Formby, formerly the Tolworth – at Aintree in December 2023 over 2m½f.
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