? Gold Cup hope Kauto Star not among horses affected by bug
? Trainer has cancelled media visit to his yard this week
Paul Nicholls, the dominant force in National Hunt racing for the last six years, said on Monday that some horses in his yard are suffering from a cough and that he has cancelled a scheduled media morning at his Ditcheat yard on Wednesday as a result. The news arrived just 22 days before the opening day on 13 March of the Cheltenham Festival, the sport's showpiece meeting.
Nicholls has saddled just one winner in February, although that was a high-profile and valuable success as Zarkandar took the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury last Friday. Since Zarkandar's win, he has sent out 27 runners without success, although only five started as favourite for their races, and just one set off at odds-on.
Nicholls said that Zarkandar was one of a number of horses who returned to the yard over the weekend "with a filthy nose and a cough", though he expects the five-year-old, who is now the second favourite for the Champion Hurdle with some bookmakers, to be "back out cantering on Wednesday once he has finished his course of antibiotics".
In his column on the Betfair website, Nicholls said that "plenty of our horses didn't show their true form" on Friday and Saturday, and "as our weekend runners came back from the track, a good few of them had dirty noses and were coughing".
Nicholls continued: "[It's] nothing serious but it's got to be monitored and gives us some clues as to why a few of the team didn't run to their true form, which was plain to see. Coughs come and go at yards and there is always the odd horse with one but, in the past few days, we have started noticing more.
"We are sticklers for keeping our yard as healthy as can be with bi-annual flu jobs as well as regular steam cleaning of the horses boxes and stables ? nothing is left to chance. But unfortunately horses can pick these coughs up when visiting the track and bring them back home.
"The horses who have come back with dirty noses and coughs will get antibiotics. Depending on the horse it can be three to five days before they are back in full training. It's much like when we get a head cold ? the whole thing goes as quickly as it comes. Sometimes you might hear a cough a day or two before they go to the races but they still work well. Until they've gone through the full stress of a race it really doesn't come to the fore.
"Ourselves and other yards are no strangers to this. We've headed into Cheltenham before on so called 'terrible form' but end up banging in a few winners at the Sandown meeting and having a great Festival."
As yet, Nicholls said, his "big boys" ? including Kauto Star, the second favourite for the Gold Cup, Big Buck's, the World Hurdle favourite, and Al Ferof, who is due to contest the Arkle Trophy, are all unaffected by the cough.
On Monday morning, Nicholls was responsible for one of the first three names in the betting for 11 of the Festival's 27 races, and was top-priced at 9-4 to finish top trainer. He drifted to 11-4 with one firm following the first indications that he was not happy with some of his horses. Nicky Henderson, his main rival for the overall trainers' title, was cut to 2-1 (from 5-2) to finish the season as champion for the first time since 1987.
Paul Bittar, the new chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, will propose fresh amendments to the authority's controversial rules on the use of the whip to a meeting of the BHA's board on Tuesday.
The changes to the current regime, which are intended to avoid damaging publicity over the issue during the Cheltenham Festival, are likely to focus on a reduction to the existing harsh penalties for relatively minor offence.
There may also be scope for local stewards to exert more discretion when deciding whether a jockey is in breach.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/feb/20/paul-nicholls-horses-coughing-cheltenham
David Beckham Wigan Athletic Sri Lanka House prices Francesca Panetta JS Bach
Zarkandar ran really well, he isn't flashy but he shows a really nice change of gear to put his races to bed, he jumps well, he stays well and he will battle. In short, he needs to improve but has a lot of the right attributes. Bet Online at The Cheltenham Festival with William Hill
TumugonBurahin