'You can't find too many faults in him' - who can take advantage of Sir Gino's absence in the Game Spirit?

Before Sir Gino was pulled out of the Game Spirit, it already had the shape of a race in which you would rather play in the 'without the favourite' market. Now it's the only show in town.

There will be tactical knock-on effects. Matata and Master Chewy, the free-going pair trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, might have tried to get a break on Sir Gino. Now JJ Slevin and Sam Twiston-Davies may well play a tighter game, knowing they do not need to pull off such an audacious stunt to beat Edwardstone, Libberty Hunter and JPR One.

Matata, in particular, is dangerous when left alone on the front. He showed that when whizzing around Windsor last time, burning off a field of smart rivals despite lumbering top weight with him.

The crux is how close to that level he can get under these conditions. It is impossible to pin down, as Windsor is still a new chase track, at least in its current form, but there is an early suspicion it will turn out to be a front-runner's track.

Matata: runs in the Game Spirit at Newbury on SaturdayCredit: Edward Whitaker

Newbury can be that way. The last three Game Spirit winners have each made all, on a variety of ground conditions. Yet the only physical reason for the existence of any front-runner bias is the number of fences up the straight. The last four can easily break the rhythm of a horse trying to make ground.

When Sir Gino came out on Friday morning, bookmakers generally copied across their 'betting without' odds to the outright market. That is to the detriment of Libberty Hunter's value. He could have picked up the pieces as others tried and failed to give Sir Gino the slip. His chances get slightly worse in a race in which the others will do more looking around.

You could say the same for JPR One. At an end-to-end gallop, he could be a 165-level two-mile chaser. In a trappy race, his lack of gears may hold him back.

There is a lot to be said for proposing last year's winner Edwardstone as the answer in this trappy race. He was a bit-part player in the Clarence House last time, but that was a quietly good run. He fell out of the television screen after reaching for two out, but lost no further ground on Energumene and only a little on Jonbon.

It has always been the case that Edwardstone is one to be feared when the big boys of the two-mile division are absent. With Sir Gino out, the Game Spirit now falls right into that bracket.
Analysis by Keith Melrose

Can Edwardstone repeat last year's impressive victory?

Edwardstone produced a stunning performance to deny the hat-trick chasing Funambule Sivola in last year's race and winning jockey Tom Cannon believes he has every chance of striking again.

The 11-year-old put 40 lengths between himself and his rival that day and he comes into this Grade 2 as second favourite behind Matata after Sir Gino had a setback and was withdrawn.

Despite Nicky Henderson's chief contender absent, Cannon is still aware of the challenge Edwardstone faces but remains confident in his ability.

Tom Cannon: looks round for non-existent challengers after jumping the last fence in the Game Spirit Chase last yearCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

He said: "I'm looking forward to it and he's been pretty consistent all season, so hopefully he can continue that again. He always runs to a very high level and we've obviously been a bit unlucky to run into Jonbon a few times, while he was second at Kempton when giving a lot of weight away to Soul Icon.

"You can't really find too many faults in him and he obviously likes Newbury. He won the race very well last year, although it's probably a slightly deeper race even without Sir Gino."

Reflecting on that runaway success 12 months ago, Cannon added: "It was great and we'd obviously experimented going up in trip the race before, but we decided it'd be more useful to him going over two miles. It obviously worked out very well, but there's a lot of pace in the race and we'll see how we go."

What they say

Joe Tizzard, trainer of JPR One
Obviously Sir Gino is out, which is a shame for his team, but I thought our lad was overpriced. I thought he was a massive price beforehand and he seems in good nick. This has always been the plan and he'll love decent ground, and I think it's a wide-open race.

Willy Twiston-Davies, assistant trainer of Master Chewy and Matata
The race has opened up with Sir Gino coming out but there are still the likes of Edwardstone to beat. We don't think there is a lot to choose between the pair. Matata won last time but we don't know what he beat and he has this inflated rating, while Master Chewy is going well and is very underrated.

Evan Williams, trainer of Libberty Hunter
It's a pity Sir Gino's out because it's never nice when a horse doesn't make the starting line-up, even if we were all going to play second fiddle to him. It's still a very tough race, but as long as the ground stays testing and they are due to get a few showers, we'll run. The ground is the big key to him. We'll find out what we're doing after this.
Reporting by Liam Headd

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