Sir Gino enters Champion Hurdle picture and installed as second favourite - but Nicky Henderson rules out retirement for Constitution Hill

Sir Gino has entered the Champion Hurdle picture with Nicky Henderson considering his deployment as a super-sub at Christmas as the fallout continued from Saturday’s dramatic Fighting Fifth Hurdle.

Lossiemouth remains a solid 2-1 favourite at the head of the Champion Hurdle market after Constitution Hill and The New Lion crashed out at Newcastle and Anzadam failed to go past last season’s Cheltenham heroine Golden Ace.

• 'We must be everybody's nemesis!' - Jeremy Scott's star Golden Ace springs another huge upset in a dramatic Fighting Fifth 

Henderson on Monday ruled out retirement for Constitution Hill after his third fall in four outings, but it is the possibility of Sir Gino appearing in Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle that caused the most significant shockwaves to the Cheltenham Festival market. He is now no bigger than 5-1 for the opening-day feature in March, having been significantly bigger last weekend.

Champion Hurdle latest odds

• Unibet: 2 Lossiemouth, 7-2 Sir Gino, 5 The New Lion, 8 William Munny, 12 Constitution Hill, Wodhooh, 14 Golden Ace, 16 Anzadam, 20 bar.

Joe and Marie Donnelly own Sir Gino and Anzadam, and with champion trainer Mullins expecting bigger things from the Newcastle runner-up at Christmas, the next month looks crucial for a division still in a state of flux. 

Sir Gino stepped in with aplomb when deputising for Constitution Hill in last year’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle and reflecting on the possibility of a similar change of plan for the five-year-old, Henderson said: “It has crossed our mind over the weekend. I need a race for him around about Christmas. I was thinking about the Desert Orchid on December 27. I've always had that in mind, but we're not making any targets with Sir Gino. We're going to let him take us to when he's ready, rather than us force him to be ready for a day. 

"I'm not going to deny that it has crossed my mind over the weekend that the obvious race to start him in, if you're going to start him over Christmas, would be the Christmas Hurdle. It's a possibility but no more."

Golden Ace (right) and Anzadam jump the last in a dramatic Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on SaturdayCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Henderson again said a run on the Flat could beckon for Constitution Hill and, while no decision has been taken on his future over jumps, his trainer was adamant that retirement was out of the question.

"He was stiff yesterday but I don't think it was anything more significant than that," said Henderson. "I've talked to [owner] Michael Buckley and we've all had a chat but we haven't come to any firm conclusions yet. We need to see how he is over the next ten days and take it one step at a time. 

"I suppose one's first reaction was, 'Can I go on asking him to do this and asking Nico [de Boinville] and he to go and do something where you have to accept that at some stage somebody might get hurt doing it?'. He's been lucky that he's had three falls and come home unscathed. It's pretty gruelling and we're not going to ask him to do something if we don't think it's right to do so.

• How the mighty have fallen - has any champion lost their love for jumping quite like Constitution Hill? 

"The one thing I wouldn't rule out is giving him a run on the Flat. He's such a high-class horse that you might find there are crazy things he could do under the other code. It's a possibility and among the many different options."

A riderless Constitution Hill jumps a hurdle at NewcastleCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Fences are not among those options, according to Henderson, but neither is cutting his career short a few weeks before he turns nine. 

"He won't run over fences, that I can tell you," said the trainer, who was speaking to Nick Luck's Daily Podcast. "He has not had a fall [at home] over a fence, a hurdle or anything else. But we have tried him over little fences. That is not the right route, I can assure everybody. That will not solve the problem. 

"We've got to be very careful what we're doing . . . but we're not giving up, that's for sure, and retirement is out of the question as far as I'm concerned, and I think Michael would agree. 

"There's no point giving up. You've got an eight-year-old who is in his prime and there are other things we can do. I'm certainly not going to promise you he'll never jump a hurdle again because that's not the case, he will. And we'll be working on it, as we have been for the last six months."

Read more:

Barry Geraghty: 'Constitution Hill has developed indecision and it's a really difficult thing to un-train out of a horse' 

Some people may claim Golden Ace is lucky, but Constitution Hill is luckier - and his owner admits it's 'a nightmare' 

'We must be everybody's nemesis!' - Jeremy Scott's star Golden Ace springs another huge upset in a dramatic Fighting Fifth 

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