Cheltenham Festival on the horizon

TSR brings you the latest news and opinions with the Cheltenham Festival kicking off on March 12^th.

Penhill ruled out of Stayers’ Hurdle defence

Willie Mullins had recently commented that Penhill is in fine form ahead of his bid to land back to back Stayers’ Hurdles.

“To me, he was never going to have a run before Cheltenham this season.

“I spoke to connections and decided that’s what we would do.”

However, last year’s surprise winner was unfortunately ruled out towards the end of last week after sustaining an injury. It remains unclear whether he will be fit for a tilt at the Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at Punchestown, a race he finished runner-up to stablemate Faugheen in when last seen.

Might Bite to fight back

Last year’s Gold Cup favourite Might Bite is reportedly working well ahead of his Gold Cup bid. The son of Scorpion was a gallant second last year and ground that wouldn’t suit but he’s been forgotten about in the market this time around after two poor runs.

Henderson has said “I’m absolutely delighted, it’s all gone according to plan.”

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“Might Bite jumped beautifully.”

That will be music to the ears of ante post backers, and he was available at 20/1 earlier in the winter.

Unclear when Le Richebourg will return

This year’s former Arkle ante post favourite Le Richebourg picked up an injury last week and Joseph O’Brien hasn’t confirmed whether he will be fit for the three-day Aintree meeting, but it’s believed that the injury is serious enough to see him out of the picture for the remainder of the season.

That will be a huge blow to owner JP McManus. The six-year-old was one of his better chances at this year’s Festival, though Sir Eric is expected to take some beating in the Triumph later in the week.

Featured image credit: “Nicky Henderson” (CC BY 2.0) by danheap77