Allaho to miss Cheltenham due to abdominal bleed

Two-time Ryanair Chase winner Allaho is off the critical list following an abdominal bleed, but his trainer, Willie Mullins, has ruled him out of next month’s Cheltenham Festival.

One of the highest rated chasers in training, on Saturday last the Cheveley Park Stud-owned nine-year-old suffered the bleed, the cause of which has yet been undetermined.

Winner of the last two running of the Ryanair Chase, by an aggregate 26 lengths, he has not run since his victory in the Punchestown Gold Cup at the end of last season, but up until this news broke, he remained a strong favourite to complete his hat-trick in the race.

Explaining the situation this morning, Mullins said: “He worked very well on Saturday. Came back, dried off, put him into his box, fed him his lunch, and after lunch we found him a little bit distressed. We thought he was getting a colic, but it didn’t look colic – it was something else.

“We just brought him straight down to Fethard Equine Hospital and found he’d got a bleed in his abdomen. It’s hugely unusual – I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in a horse before.

“He was comfortable over the weekend but was still critical, but this morning he moved off the critical list. His bloods and everything had come down to normal levels.

“I got good word from the veterinary hospital this morning but, unfortunately, he won’t make Cheltenham, and I’d imagine that’s him for the season because we don’t know what caused the bleed.

“There’s no fracture or anything, but something caused it, and that’s going to take a while to heal. Hopefully he will make a full recovery and be back for next season. You get all sorts of injuries and other things but that’s very unusual for us.” 

In his absence, Fakir D’oudairies has assumed the mantle as ante-post favourite for the Ryanair Chase. The Joseph O’Brien-trained finished runner-up to Allaho in the 2021 running of the race, having finished in the same position in the 2020 Arkle won by Put The Kettle On. He sidestepped last year’s Festival in preference for a successful tilt at the Grade One Marsh Chase at Aintree.

Allaho’s stable companion, Blue Lord, is second favourite, with Shishkin just behind them in an open betting heat.

Ryanair Chase betting: 3 Fakir D’oudairies, 7-2 Blue Lord, 9-2 Shishkin, 6 Fury Road, Conflated, 12 bar.