Jingko Blue picks up Hampton honours at Windsor

Jingko Blue took the next step in his promising career with a neat victory in the Hampton Novices’ Chase at Windsor.

Nicky Henderson’s six-year-old was a wide-margin winner on his debut over fences at Uttoxeter in December and faced only two rivals at Grade Two level this time.

He was the 4-9 favourite under Nico de Boinville, who gave him a patient ride as he stalked leader Lowry’s Bar for much of the three-mile trip.

Jingko Blue’s jumping was a slight mixed bag, but as he was looming up alongside Lowry’s Bar in the closing stages a bad mistake by the latter left his path clear.

He strode on to a two-and-a-quarter-length victory to remain unbeaten over fences, with Lowry’s Bar staying on for a creditable second, with Johnnywho a long way back in third.

Henderson told Sky Sports Racing: “That significant error (by Lowry’s Bar) changed the complexion of the race very quickly, but everything was going well.

“I thought he jumped well, it’s hard work ground. They were really getting into this ground on Friday and I wouldn’t have thought it was the easiest to jump out of.

“He can be a bit more flamboyant than that but at that gallop in this ground, that was probably the best way of going about it.

“They set a sensible pace, but he (De Boinville) did say that going faster on some better ground he will be a more flamboyant jumper.

“I’m pretty sure three miles is his game.”

De Boinville added: “He’s a nice horse and he’s progressing the right way.

“It’s not easy to jump out of that ground, but he’s done it well in the end. The quicker he went, the better he was, we went fairly steady.

“It’s tricky to jump round here, those fences are trappy and it’s hard to get into a rhythm. I had plenty of horse.”