'It's a real shame' - Warwick disappointment after £18,000 feature race reduced to a walkover

Warwick says it is "a real shame" that Wednesday's card will begin with a walkover in its feature £18,000 race (12.25) won by Grade 1 stars Jonbon and Edwardstone in the past two years.

The 2m novice chase, worth £9,803 to the winner, was set to be contested by just two runners at the 48-hour declaration stage, with the Dan Skelton-trained Pembroke and Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Matata standing their ground.

However, Matata was withdrawn from the race on Tuesday morning due to a respiratory infection meaning Pembroke only needs to walk across the line to be handed victory.

The race, sponsored by Highflyer Bloodstock, was won last year by the Nicky Henderson-trained Jonbon, who went on to land three Grade 1s over fences during his novice chasing campaign. The high-class Edwardstone won the race the previous year in 2021 before triumphing in the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival later that season. 

Conditions will be testing, with the going currently soft, heavy in places, but Warwick's clerk of the course Tom Ryall believes it did not play a major factor in the turnout. "Last year it was Jonbon and a year before that it was Edwardstone, so it's a real shame we've not delivered this time," he said.

"We're looking like we'll be a bit softer than where we were last year because of the wet summer and autumn we had, but it's mainly going to be soft over the track tomorrow rather than heavy, and you wouldn't think it would be much of an issue at this time. It's slightly disappointing."

Just 18 runners have run in the race since its creation in 2018, with the highest fields of five in 2018 and 2021, but has also been contested by high-class horses such as Grade 2 winner Mister Fisher and Monmiral.

Ryall added: "Let's hope next year it can get back to getting the calibre of top-class horses it has had to win it over the last couple of years. It was the feature race of the card and it's a real shame it's got the disappointing turnout it has."

Dan Skelton: expecting a poor turnoutCredit: Debbie Burt

Pembroke's trainer Dan Skelton was sympathetic, but said he had been expecting a poor turnout.

"It happens from time to time, and it was obvious at declarations stage that just nobody else could run in it as they'd gone elsewhere," he said. "We'll go up the road and unfortunately for Warwick we'll collect the prize-money, but that's just sport sometimes."

There was a similar walkover at Wetherby last month with the Neil Mulholland-trained Any News in a £12,000 novice handicap chase.

It also comes nearly a year after the Paul Nicholls-trained Milan Bridge walked over in a 3m novice handicap chase at Ascot, on a card that was blighted by non-runners including Constitution Hill and L'Homme Presse due to drying ground.

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