See The World will miss the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival
Thursday 5 March 2015 16:31, UK
See The World will miss the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival after meeting with a setback.
The five-year old, who was as short as 12-1 to win Wednesday's Grade One contest, has been ruled out by trainer Emma Lavelle after a trace of mucus was found in a scope carried out after a piece of work last week.
The son of Kayf Tara put in an eyecatching performance when making his racecourse debut at Wincanton in January.
Having looked beaten entering the home straight, the 7-1 shot overcame signs of greenness to put in a sustained late run and pass likely looking winner Lincoln County to score going away by four and a half lengths.
Lavellle said: "He had a scope last week after a piece of work and it showed a trace of mucus. It was only a small amount and we could have done something about it.
"Going to Cheltenham with such a young horse, you need everything to be 110 per cent. We have had discussions and we won't go to Cheltenham, but we will try to find another bumper before the end of the season before going hurdling next season."
"He is a very smart horse and at the end of the day, very few horses come out of that bumper and go on. We want to have a top class National Hunt horse, not a top class bumper horse."
The unbeaten Barters Hill will also miss the race but his trainer, Ben Pauling, could still be represented by Always Lion and he believes the outsider could outrun his odds.
"Barters Hill is just not streetwise enough for that type of race yet," he told www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk.
"Always Lion will run if he gets in. He has done an exceptional couple of pieces of work this last week. The horse that beat him last time, Wait For Me, is well fancied for it and we were carrying a penalty that day. His form is right there.
"We have shown our cards slightly but the form of his win at Worcester worked out well and on Racing Post ratings he's only 2lb lower than Barters Hill."
