Harry Whittington set for spell without runners after yard's strangles outbreak

Harry Whittington is facing a spell without runners as he deals with an outbreak of strangles at his pre-training yard, something he hopes is little more than a short-term "inconvenience".

Whittington, who saddled Arzal to win Aintree's Manifesto Novices' Chase in 2016, is based near Lambourn in Oxfordshire, where this summer he set up a predominantly Flat pre-training business to run alongside his core operation.

The outbreak of strangles, a disease of the lymph nodes of the upper respiratory tract, has occurred among the pre-training string, so Whittington has temporarily relocated his jumpers to Frenchmans Lodge in Lambourn, from where Harry Dunlop trained until he relinquished his licence recently.