Sir Gino produced a fine performance to beat Ballyburn in a much-anticipated game in the Ladbrokes Wayward Lads Novice Chase at Kempton Park.

For the second time in two days, the second level action featured a mouth-watering clash between two superstars from a strong side in Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins.

As was the case in the Christmas Hurdle, Constitution Hill defeated Lossiemouth, with top honors going to Seven Barrows – and in a manner of speaking, too.

Sir Gino has had an impressive season playing for Constitution Hill in Newcastle’s fifth hurdle and is the heavily-backed 8/13 favorite over Nico de Boinville A debut that led the team to overcome even greater obstacles.

Ballyburn, a three-time Grade 1 novice hurdler last season, was almost flawless on his feet in his first chase at Punchestown last month, with Paul Townend ( Paul Townend’s chances are only 7/4.

The two giants dominated for much of the two-mile race, with Ballybourne initially dominating before de Boisville gave Sir Gino the head and allowed him to stride down the back straight.

Ballyburn did his best to keep the game going, but Sir Gino was always on top of the pile-jump and found gear shortly after home that Ballyburn simply couldn’t stand.

Sir Gino had only to make it safely over the final fence, and he did just that before settling for an impressive seven-and-a-half-length verdict.

De Boisville said: “He was a little sketchy with the first move, but to be fair when we turned to the side of the open ditch it all clicked.

“He came back to the ground so quickly after takeoff that he just stayed in the air for a long time. We knew he had the engine, it was just a matter of whether he could put it all together.”

“He’s got a huge engine, but it’s amazing here because the fence goes up so fast and you have to stay, you have to be able to jump fast and think fast.

“I would say he exceeded my expectations and I would say he’s improved over the fences as well.”

While Sir Gino was entitled to take the Champion Hurdle route after his success in the fifth race, Henderson always seemed keen to pursue a chasing career.

He told Racing TV: “I have to admit, a few months ago Charlie Morlock (assistant coach), myself and Nico took him out early one morning and had a look at him over the fence. It was in the dark , we thought we were doing it just so everyone wouldn’t see it, but I guarantee you when we came back, everyone was rooting for him to be in Arkle, but they didn’t even see it!

“He was very good so we knew we had the option to substitute and then it was necessary to bring him into the fifth fight because we were not ready for the boy we had yesterday (Constitution Hill). He came in not as a sub because he A very good horse in his own right, but if they are both to win on the Champion Hurdle Road, then simply put, one of them has to beat the other.

“We trained Sir Gino over the fence again and he’s the same old guy – he’s got a lot of range. It seemed like a natural thing to do with the (four-year-old) allowance, he’s a real two-year-old Mile Athlete.

“If you remember his first hurdle here, he broke six of them! That was my fault because I didn’t really train him properly, I just assumed that because he was from France, he jumped those Auteuil The hurdles, he could jump and I never thought he didn’t know what those were and he was terrible, but we taught him a few times after that and he was great.”

Betfair and Paddy Power have slashed odds on Sir Gino’s Arkle at Cheltenham to a draw from 11/4, with Henderson planning to move from now to music Let him do more game practice during the holidays.

He added: “He’s always had huge talent and this kind of track suits him perfectly because he’s so fast.

“I think he has to run again. You can say ‘What can you teach him?’. It might not be a lot, but you have to respect those things because it was a little too easy for him today.

“It’s a good place to learn without having to do the big tests, which you’ll do at Sandowns, Ascot and Cheltenham. They’re different tests and you just have to compare them to what you do elsewhere. A little more testing will do. You’ll need to wrap your head around this, but this is a good starting point.

“We’ve been very lucky (to have the two-mile chasers). Altior has been great, Sprinter Sacre has been great and Remittance Man from the good old days has been great too.”