3 minute read
Henderson yard struck by health issues.
Jonbon will not take on El Fabiolo in Wednesday's feature Queen Mother Champion Chase, after trainer Nicky Henderson confirmed the withdrawal of three of his horses due to concerns over the health of his stable, while he also confirmed the absence of Shishkin from Friday's Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champ from Thursday's Stayers' Hurdle.
Although Luccia emerged with bundles of credit when finishing third in the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday afternoon, the remaining five of Henderson's runners were pulled-up, leaving the Seven Barrows maestro scratching his head as to why his horses were failing to show their true colours.
Jonbon had been set to take on Willie Mullins' star unbeaten chase El Fabiolo in the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase at 4pm but the Simon Munir and Isaac Souede-owned seven-year-old is now a general 1/3 shot to make it back-to-back Cheltenham Festival wins following his Arkle success last year.
Henderson also announced later on Wednesday that the leading British Boodles Gold Cup contender would not take his chance in the Friday feature and was subsequently not amongst those declared at 10am. Shishkin was the only horse not to stand his ground at the declaration stage, with reigning champion Galopin Des Champs now set to take on eleven rivals on Friday.
Alongside Jonbon and Shishkin, Henderson has also made to decision to remove First Street from the Coral Cup and Kingston Pride from the closing Champion Bumper on Wednesday afternoon. Henderson has left Doddiethegreat, who he described to be his "secret weapon" of the Festival, in the Coral Cup alongside Lucky Place but did warn to expect further non-runners on the final two days of the meeting. Jingko Blue will also take his chance in the opening Grade 1 Gallagher Novices' Hurdle, for what he is a general 16/1 chance against short-price favourite Ballyburn.
A statement from Henderson on X, formerly known as Twitter, read: "I'm afraid we've had to make some very tough decisions following the very disappointing performances of all bar one of our horses yesterday.
"It was there for all to see that there's obviously something affecting nearly all our horses and consequently we have reluctantly decided that Jonbon, First Street and Kingston Pride will not run today.
"It's impossible to identify any reason for all the disappointments and none of these three horses have given us any cause for concern and all yesterday's runners were scoped clean post-race and I'm glad to say all are sound this morning. There will unfortunately be further non-runners on Thursday and Friday.
"I hope everybody will appreciate that we have to do this in everybody's interests, particularly the horses. It is very, very disappointing for everybody."
As a result of the news, the Nicky Henderson-trained Triumph Hurdle favourite Sir Gino has drifted to a general 13/8 from odds-on.
In a second statement released on X on Wednesday morning, Henderson also revealed that Champ would not take part in the feature Grade 1 Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle, for what he was a 33/1 chance with the respective race sponsor.
The statement read: "Very sadly it will not be possible for Shishkin to run in the Gold Cup on Friday. He was scoped as have all our potential runners this week, but unfortunately, he has shown an unsatisfactory picture on which he couldn't possibly run.
"He appears to be 100 per cent in himself and has been working and schooling better than ever and we were really looking forward to Friday, it is hoped that along with all the other non-participants this week that they will be back in time for Aintree or Punchestown.
"Regrettably Champ has also succumbed and will not run in tomorrow's Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle and the equivalent race at Aintree could be on the agenda."
