Advertisement

What is a dirty scope? Nicky Henderson's Festival hopes in tatters after big withdrawals

Gold Cup hope Shishkin and Stayers' Hurdle fancy Champ both won't run at jumps racing's mecca

Nicky Henderson is the most successful British trainer in Cheltenham Festival history with 73 winners
Nicky Henderson is the most successful British trainer in Cheltenham Festival history with 73 winners (Reuters via Beat Media Group subscription)

By James Toney at Cheltenham

Nicky Henderson has been in racing for long enough to know that best laid plans can be shattered in an instant.

Cheltenham does highs and lows unlike few other sporting venues, Henderson - with 73 winners knows this place at its best - and certainly knows it at its worst too.

His Cheltenham squad – he is consistently the best British trainer in a meeting dominated by Irish rivals - was already seriously diminished by the absence of last year's Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill, the most exciting jumps horse in training.

And after a poor opening day on Tuesday, where five of Henderson’s six runners were pulled up, came the early morning news from Seven Barrows that fevered online speculation of recent days was accurate.

"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,” he said.

"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."

And just a couple of hours passed before more bad news, as Gold Cup hope Shishkin was revealed to have picked up an infection, after being scoped following his last training work before Friday.

What is a dirty scope?

During a scope procedure, a veterinarian employs an endoscope, a slender, flexible tube equipped with a light and a camera, to visually inspect the horse's nasal passages, throat, and larynx.

A 'dirty scope' signals potential issues in the horse's airways, such as mucus accumulation, inflammation, ulcers, or growths, necessitating further investigation and intervention to address these problems.

"He appears to be 100 percent in himself and he was working and schooling better than ever," added Henderson.

"We have scoped all our potential runners this week but unfortunately he has shown an unsatisfactory picture, which means he couldn't possible run."

Also missing from Cheltenham will be Stayers' Hurdle hope and former Festival winner Champ, who has the same issue.

Sir Gino – Henderson's only favourite across the 27-race meeting, following the cancellation of the Cross Country Chase due to bad ground conditions – has drifted to 7-4 since the announcement but he has not been ruled out of the JCB Triumph Hurdle on Friday, following his impressive win at Cheltenham's Trials Day.

Jonbon’s absence from Wednesday’s showpiece Champion Chase further enhance the odds-on claims of defending champion El Fabiolo, who is now as short as 1/3 in the market.