Nicky Henderson’s number one jockey Nico de Boinville will MISS this Saturday’s Cheltenham Trials Day fixture – the last meeting at Prestbury Park before the Festival in March – as his recent collarbone injury is still niggling him.
Nico de Boinville To Sit Out Cheltenham Trials Day With Injury
Former Cheltenham Gold Cup winning jockey Nico de Boinville suffered a broken collarbone in a fall at Doncaster on December 29th and depspite making a rapid recovery to return to the track at Lingfield last Sunday (21st June), he’s back on the sidelines.
Not with a new injury, but the old collarbone issue is still bothering last season’s Champion Hurdle winning pilot and was stood down from his rides by the track doctor at Chepstow on Wednesday.
In addition to his four mounts at Lingfield on Sunday, De Boinville had ridden at Warwick on Monday – where he rode his first winner back on the Henderson-trained Either Or.
He continued on Tuesday with four more rides at Newbury, but only managed one at Chepstow on Wednesday before being stood down.
De Boinville’s agent and former jockey Sam Stronge told the Racing Post “He was a bit sore after his rides yesterday, so he was stood down by the doctor. He wants to give his collarbone a few more days to recover so he won’t be riding this weekend.
“We’re taking it day by day to see how he is and when he’s ready to come back. We tried to get back as quickly as we could, but it’s been a busy week and maybe it was just too quick on this occasion.”
As a result, de Boinville, who has ridden 46 winners so far this jumps season, will now MISS the big Cheltenham Trials Day fixture this weekend, where he was due to partner a whole host of big Festival contenders – including the JP McManus-owned Jonbon in the Clarence House Chase.
James Bowen To Ride Jonbon In Rearranged Clarence House Chase
With Nico de Boinville back on the sidelines and also Aidan Coleman injured, then Jonbon’s connections have turned to James Bowen to ride their 2m chasing star in Saturday’s rearranged Clarence House Chase on Saturday.
The normal Ascot contest has been slotted into the Cheltenham Trials Day card, just like it was last year, with the Berkshire track having to call off the meeting last weekend.
Bowen will be riding Jonbon, who is 7-from-8 over fences, for the first time.
Nico de Boinville Likely To Have One Eye On The Cheltenham Festival
This latest Nico de Boinville injury setback will also having some horse racing fans asking if he’ll be okay for the Cheltenham Festival in March, which starts on Tuesday 12th.
However, with the biggest four days of jumps racing on the planet still around six weeks away there is no reason to think de Boinville won’t be fully recovered, as he looks ahead to partnering the unbeaten Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle – a race the pair took 12 months ago.
Cheltenham Trials Day Race Times: Saturday 27th January 2024
See below the race times for Cheltenham Trials Day this weekend, plus we’ve got the full ITV Racing schedule here.
- 12:05 JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 2) (Registered As The Finesse) (GBB Race) Cl1 (4yo) 2m1f RTV
- 12:40 Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase (GBB Race) Cl2 (5yo+) 2m4½f RTV
- 1:15 Paddy Power Cheltenham Countdown Podcast Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) Cl1 (5yo+) 2m4½f ITV
- 1:50 Paddy Power Cotswold Chase (Grade 2) (GBB Race) Cl1 (5yo+) 3m1½f ITV
- 2:25 Clarence House Chase (Grade 1) (GBB Race) Cl1 (5yo+) 2m½f ITV
- 3:00 Unibet Hurdle (Registered As The International Hurdle) (Grade 2) (GBB Race) Cl1 (4yo+) 2m1f ITV
- 3:35 McCoy Contractors Cleeve Hurdle (Grade 2) (GBB Race) Cl1 (5yo+) 3m ITV
- 4:10 SSS Super Alloys Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2) (Registered As The Classic Novices’ Hurdle) (GBB Race) Cl1 (4yo+) 2m4½f RTV
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
