Champ set for racecourse school after Storm Ciara forces Kelso cancellation

RSA Insurance Novices' Chase favourite Champ will head straight to the Cheltenham Festival via a racecourse school in the next week after the effects of Storm Ciara claimed the Morebattle Hurdle card at Kelso on Thursday.

Nicky Henderson had planned to run the dual Grade 1-winning hurdler, who is a best-price 7-2 market leader for the RSA with Betfair Sportsbook, in a novice chase at the midweek meeting after he fell when in the lead in the Dipper Novices' Chase at Cheltenham last month.

Henderson said: "I'm revamping my plan. I haven't got a race for him now because there isn't one. Fortunately, he doesn't need another race and we would never have been looking for one if he hadn't come down at Cheltenham.

"What he does need is to jump around a racecourse, so we'll aim to give him a racecourse school somewhere in the next week or so. He's in great form and could not have been better when he schooled at home last week."

Leicester will stage the sole jumps action in Britain on Thursday after Kelso and Fontwell were cancelled on Tuesday due to waterlogging.

Kelso has been hit by 42mm of rain since Saturday night and there is no prospect of rescheduling the meeting with the course hosting their Premier Hurdle meeting on February 29.

Kelso: waterlogging has claimed the Morebattle Hurdle meetingCredit: Jon Winter

Clerk of the course Anthea Morshead said: “We’ve had frequent heavy wet snow showers on and off all day and it’s set to persist up to midnight.

“It’s forecast to be very cold on Wednesday and very wet on Thursday, so we needed improvement to be racing and given the forecast we have no chance.

“It’s unfortunate to lose one of our big meetings and there’s no opportunity to reschedule as we have a poor forecast for the weekend and then there's not much time before we have our Premier Hurdle meeting, when there's over £100,000 in prize-money.”

Punchestown's rescheduled National trial meeting from Sunday was called off due to snow on Tuesday morning, and has been rescheduled again for next Tuesday, while Tuesday's other jumps fixtures at Ayr and Lingfield were cancelled on Monday and there could be a similar situation on Wednesday.

Hereford's meeting faces an 8am inspection on raceday morning on Wednesday with the track currently unraceable in areas. The going is heavy although it was a dry day at the track on Tuesday.

Fairyhouse's Wednesday fixture was abandoned due to snow and rain but the meeting has been rescheduled for Monday February 24.

Hereford: inspection called for 8am on raceday morning on WednesdayCredit: Edward Whitaker

Clerk of the course Libby O'Flaherty said on Tuesday afternoon: "We've seen some improvements to the track but there's still unraceable areas.

"The forecast suggests it will be mainly dry overnight with the chance of a light shower, so we'll assess the situation again in the morning."

The going is soft at Ascot with the potential for 20mm of rain before Saturday's Betfair Ascot Chase meeting, while heavy ground is the description at Haydock for Unibet Grand National trial card.

Jumps prospects

Wednesday

Hereford Heavy. The track is unraceable in a couple of areas. Inspection at 8am on raceday.

Wetherby Cancelled due to flooding in back straight.

Fairyhouse Cancelled due to waterlogging. Rescheduled for Monday February 24.

Thursday

Fontwell Cancelled due to waterlogging.

Kelso Cancelled due to waterlogging.

Leicester Soft, heavy in places. Unsettled forecast with more rain expected.

Clonmel Heavy. Risk of further 10-15mm of rain before racing.

Friday

Fakenham Good to soft. 14mm of rain forecast on Thursday.

Sandown Soft, heavy in places (chase), heavy, soft in places (hurdle). 8-10mm of rain forecast through Wednesday night to Thursday morning.

Saturday

Ascot Soft. Potential for 20mm of rain before racing.

Haydock Heavy. Showers forecast through the week.

Wincanton Soft. Unsettled outlook.

Gowran Park Heavy. Unsettled forecast.

Sunday

Exeter Soft. Unsettled outlook through the week.

Market Rasen Good to soft, soft in places

Navan Soft to heavy. Unsettled forecast in coming days.

Read this next:

Snow forces Punchestown to cancel Tuesday card

Reprieve for Exeter after card is rescheduled

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