Nicky Henderson has confirmed that none of his horses will race at the Cheltenham Festival from day two onwards in a huge blow that he described as ‘very, very disappointing’. It comes just days after Constitution Hill, who had been among the favourites to win the Champion Hurdle, was ruled out of the meeting due to a lung infection.
Henderson endured a torrid opening day of the festival, with Jeriko Du Reponet among five of his horses that failed to finish their respective races. The 73-year-old issued a statement on Wednesday morning to confirm that Jonbon, First Street and Kingston Pride would not be involved on day two, with further non-runners expected before the end of the meeting.
“I’m afraid we have had to make some very tough decisions following the very disappointing performances of all bar one of our horses yesterday,” the statement read.
“It was there for all to see that there is 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 is 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 am glad to say are all 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.”
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