Cheltenham loses another favourite as Marine Nationale ruled out of Festival

The news that the leading fancy for the Arkle Trophy would not run came just hours after Constitution Hill was withdrawn from the Champion Hurdle

Another favourite at next week’s Cheltenham Festival has been ruled out by injury on a brutal day for ante-post punters.

Hours after Constitution Hill was declared a non-runner in the Champion Hurdle, it was announced Marine Nationale would not make the Arkle Trophy. Like Constitution Hill, Marine Nationale was a winner at last year’s Festival, capturing the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

The seven-year-old, owned and trained by Barry Connell, had shot to the front of the market for the Arkle at Christmas after winning on his first attempt over fences, beating Firm Footings who will also miss the meeting.

He was only fifth next time out in the Irish Arkle at the Dublin Racing Festival but punters had kept faith in him in the belief he did not run to his best.

But on Tuesday, Connell revealed that his star horse had strained a suspensory, which while not serious, would not enable him to take his chance at Cheltenham.

Punters soon took to social media to express their frustration with one writing, “Ballyburn set to run in the Ballymore - instead of the Supreme - Constitution Hill and Marine Nationale ruled out 2024 Cheltenham Festival and Irish Point likely redirected to Champion Hurdle.

“In Garfield’s famous words, ‘I’ve always hated Mondays’. Back to the drawing board.”

Connell said: "“He basically needs six weeks off and he has got a minor suspensory strain. We did our final piece of work with him on Saturday and were thrilled with him – it was as good a piece of work he has done in the last year and a half.

“Everything was all ready for Cheltenham and he was all ready to go, but we obviously don’t ride out on Sunday and came in this morning and the horse was lame.

“He has never had a lame step in his life before, so we just put him to one side for the vets to look at him. They went through him in detail and it’s the best possible result we could have hoped for because it’s basically liked a pulled muscle in human terms.

“It is in the suspensory, not a tendon and it’s not a tear, it’s basically a little shadow. If we had not caught it and gone on with it, things could have been worse, so the vets say if he gets six weeks’ rest, he will be 100 per cent.”