Dysart Enos and Golden Ace lined up for Cheltenham clash next week after missing Aintree

Dysart Enos and Golden Ace, Britain's two leading mares in the novice hurdle division, could potentially clash at Cheltenham next week after being withdrawn from Aintree's Top Novices' Hurdle on Friday.

The pair were 7-2 and 8-1 for the Grade 1 contest, which would have been their first clash since last season's Grand National meeting when the Fergal O'Brien-trained Dysart Enos proved nine lengths too good in a Grade 2 bumper.

O'Brien endured the agony of missing his intended Cheltenham Festival target in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle due to lameness – a race that Golden Ace then won – and she will not appear at Aintree due to the ground. Golden Ace was taken out with a bruised foot.

However, the high-class mares are set to run in the 2m4½f Listed novices' hurdle on Cheltenham's mares-only card on Thursday.

O'Brien said: "I just walked the track and they had a bit of rain last night. There was a bit of drying ground but the rain has probably not made it ideal for her. I didn't want to come here without every box ticked. 

"She'll hopefully go to Cheltenham next week for a Listed race, I've entered her in that and we'll have a look."

Golden Ace: won the Mares' Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham FestivalCredit: John Grossick Racing

Jeremy Scott is enjoying one of the best spells of his 23-year training career, with runners operating at a 35 per cent strike-rate in March and April, and he was relishing a Grade 1 tilt with Golden Ace.

The trainer said: "We went to bandage her up this morning, and she's got a bit of heat in her heel and I think she's probably just knocked it. I couldn't hand on heart run her without being 100 per cent confident that she was all right. It's very, very, very annoying but there we are.

"She was in good form, but that's the way life is and we couldn't risk it. We've done it on a vet's cert so we could run her at Cheltenham next week if she was all right."

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