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Nicky Henderson is expected to know the fate of his stable form by Thursday evening with both Sir Gino and Shishkin set for Aintree.

Henderson, who endured a horrid Cheltenham Festival and has saddled just four runners in the last fortnight, will be hoping Sir Gino can successfully 'fly the flag' for team Seven Barrows in the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle.

Sir Gino, one of several high-profile absentees from the Henderson yard over the Cheltenham Festival, was odds-on to land the Triumph Hurdle following a facile success at the Trials Day meeting in January.

The French-bred potential star will be the first major runner for Henderson since his stable was cast under a dark cloud at the Cheltenham Festival and the Lambourn-based handler is hoping he can set the record straight early at this week's Grand National Aintree Festival.

"Rather like before Cheltenham we've kept testing them and just like then, everything is fine – that's the only worry really. It keeps telling us everything is fine," said Henderson on Sky Sports Racing.

"The horses seem really well in themselves, the last work has all been done, they seem bright and perky and we're looking forward to it.

"We're going to know our fate pretty quickly. By Thursday night it will either be happening, or it won't be happening. Obviously, we go with a fair amount of trepidation, but things seemed to have improved dramatically from the perspective of their work and everything at home.

"We've hardly run anything, but the two reasons we haven't run anything, for instance at Hereford today I couldn't make an entry on the card – I couldn't find a horse who was qualified to run in any race, and of course the ground is desperate, so we'll start at Aintree."

Sir Gino is a general 10/11 chance to gain a first Grade 1 success on the opening day of the Aintree meeting and Henderson, who has always held his contender in extremely high regard, is keeping maximum faith in the Joe and Marie Donnelly-owned four-year-old.

He said: "He was a horse that I honestly couldn't find anything wrong with him, but we'd lost all confidence, and I couldn't face running a young horse like him,"

"We've made no bones about it; we think he's seriously good and I just couldn't risk him. Joe Donnelly was wonderful because we had to take Sir Gino, Shishkin and Shanagh Bob out, all his, but there was no point in running them after the first two days.

"I trust in this fellow and he's going to go out there carrying the Seven Barrows flag and I'm sure everyone is going to watch him like a hawk – I hope for all the right reasons.

"He won at Auteuil and as everybody knows, if you can handle that you can handle most things, and it was pretty soft on Trials Day (at Cheltenham)."

Just thirty-five minutes after Sir Gino takes to the stage at Aintree on Thursday, Gold Cup absentee Shishkin will attempt to add to his Grade 1 tally in the William Hill Aintree Bowl Chase.

"The last week seems to have been great, Nico (de Boinville) rode him in his last piece of work on Saturday and said he felt fantastic, and he's looked up for it all this week.

"I just think everything has gone right, but he's had a funny old year. He didn't start, then he threw away the King George and then he won the Denman. Whatever anybody's opinion of the King George doesn't matter, he was still running a great race. The Denman was more than an ideal preparation for the Gold Cup, but here we are in the same place so hopefully, all systems go."