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Unfortunately, the sad part about ante-post betting and racing in general is the injuries the horses pick up on the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival.
If you have had a play in the ante-post betting quite early into the season, or straight after last year's Cheltenham Festival, and your selection isn't turning up, then it's an instant losing bet.
In this thread, we'll update on a daily basis on the notable non-runners and also touch on the key horses who are missing out before the Festival begins.
Non-runners before the festival
Constitution Hill – Champion Hurdle
It only makes sense to speak about the Constitution Hill first. What a legend of a horse he has been since we got eyes on him on his Sandown debut back in 2021.
He is a multiple Grade 1 horse over hurdles and is a previous Supreme and Champion Hurdle winner. He broke the track record in the Supreme and was, without a doubt, the best hurdler we've seen since Istabraq.
Over the last twelve months or so, his jumping got worse, and he started to lose races, which was a complete shock. Once again, at the start of the new season, he fell in the Fighting Fifth, and we hadn't seen him again until on the flat at Southwell in February.
After bolting up on the flat, connections have made the decision to retire him as a jumps horse, so they can concentrate on plundering some pots on the flat.
He was intended to run in the Champion Hurdle, and since being removed, the race is definitely a weaker renewal (even though he had been poor over timber in recent memory). A fair bit of money came in for him after his flat performance, so many will have had their finger's burnt if they didn't play in the non-runner no-bet market.
Sir Gino – Champion Hurdle/Champion Chase
The biggest miss for the Cheltenham 2026 Festival is Sir Gino, also hailing from the Nicky Henderson stable.
Nicky appeared to have another superstar in his stable when Sir Gino came over from France to make a huge statement in the Juvenile scene in 2023. He was raw and novicey over his hurdles, but won a Grade 1 at Aintree late into his first season.
He then won the 2024 Fighting Fifth and then put in a brilliant round of jumping on his chasing debut at Kempton. He is a tender horse who has had a fair amount of injuries, so we didn't see him up until Boxing Day 2025 over hurdles, where he beat last year's Champion Hurdle winner, Golden Ace by 6L.
Unfortunately, last time out, he broke down at Cheltenham early into the race. It looked bad, but he managed to be safe enough to fight another day. Whether or not we'll see him ever again, god only knows.
He was intended to go for the Champion Hurdle, but still had an entry for the Champion Chase. This has put a huge dent in the market and opened the race up a little more than it would've been if he had stayed fit and come to the race.
Marine Nationale – Champion Chase
Last year's Champion Chase winner, Marine Nationale, was ruled out of the Champion Chase in the last week by his trainer, Barry Connell.
It was reported that he suffered a sore/stiff neck, and as a result, connections have decided it's not worth the risk.
Marine Nationale is a Cheltenham horse and seems to bring his best form to the table, so it's a huge shame that we don't get to see him run. His trainer is a huge personality and has been singing this horse's praises for years. He was saying he wouldn't get beaten in this race last year, when he wasn't fancied to beat Jonbon, and he was as confident this year.
The Wallpark – Kim Muir/NH Chase
One to be chucked in for the handicaps is The Wallpark.
All the shrewd bettors were watching this lad get his handicap mark down throughout the season after it looked like he was being primed for a run in a handicap at the festival, only to be let down by them not entering him into any race.
He was the favourite for both races, so to see him not turn up has definitely put the cat amongst the pigeons in the market for those two races.
Galopin Des Champs – Gold Cup
For the first time in recent memory, it feels like we are going to be missing a lot of superstars of the jumps world at Cheltenham. Galopin Des Champs is the latest to fall victim to a setback and will miss the Gold Cup next Friday.
Willie Mullins said that he worked well on Thursday, but then wasn't right on Friday morning. Not only will he miss the Gold Cup, but he'll miss the other spring festivals as well, which is such a shame. Do I think he would have won the Gold Cup? I don't think so, as I think his age has caught up to him, and it looked like he was slowly getting worse. But that's not the point, he is a dual Gold Cup winner, and was runner-up in last year's race, making him one of the great staying chasers we've had this century.
He was a general 7/1 in the market before being pulled out. As a result, it has seen its stablemate, Gaelic Warrior, shortened into 4/1 from 11/2.
Narciso Has – Triumph Hurdle
Arguably, the biggest non-runner to affect the market is Narciso Has.
Narciso Has was the best juvenile from Ireland and was the 11/8 favourite for the Grade 1 Triumph before getting a setback in the middle of February. Connections seem fairly confident that he will return for one of the spring festival meetings, which is a positive sign, but we all wish we could see him at the main festival.
As a result of his withdrawal, the current market favourite is Square D'Alboni, who is now EVS money for the race. That goes to show the confidence that was with Narciso Has, the fact that the market is now dominated by the old second favourite.
Sixmilebridge – Jack Richards Novices' Handicap Chase
We've not had many high profile non-runners on the day of the race, but Sixmilebridge is a notable non-runner on day three.
He was the favourite for this Grade 2 Handicap Chase, and was withdrawn because the ground was too quick. That has changed the market, as there is now a 20p Rule 4, if you backed a horse in the race before he was withdrawn.
At the time of writing, Jordans Cross is new favourite and Regent's stroll is 11/2, which is a similar price when he was tipped up for the day three articles. However, it looks like Regent's Stroll could get an easy lead if Cobden wants to play those tactics.
Fact To File – Ryanair Chase
Just like busses, two come at once. That is the second big non-runner of the day for day three.
Fact To File had been the antepost favourite for this before the festival and was an odds-on shot overnight. The ground was deemed to be too dry for him, even with the afternoon rain, so they decided to withdraw him.
In hindsight, it looked like it was always on the cards as Jonbon was supplemented for the race late in the day. Nicky Henderson played his cards close to his chest and said Jonbon was going to Aintree, but JP pulled the plug on that and brought him to the Ryanair Chase. He is now the favourite, with a huge rule 4.
GambleAware