Noble Yeats Rerouted To Cotswald Chase After Lingfield Mix Up

Emmet Mullins' Leading Gold Cup hope Noble Yeats will now be seen at Cheltenham on Saturday week in the Grade Two Cotswald Chase after an administrative error ruled him out of Sunday’s Fleur De Lys Chase at Lingfield.

2022 Grand National winner Noble Yeats firmly put himself into the reckoning for the Gold Cup when landing the Grade Two many Clouds Chase at Aintree at the start of December.

A horse with bundles of ability, this season he looks to have been aimed at tougher staying chases in the Grade One category.

At Aintree on his third run this season, having won nicely at Wexford on his second start of the season, he took on the likes of Ahoy Senor, Dashel Drasher and Chantry House and he went on to win extremely easy.

Noble Yeats was 33/1 before the off at Aintree and is now a general 7/1 for the big event off the back of his performance.

The way he showed a rapid turn of pace just before the last and then after it was frightening and to win a Grand National and have that much pace, he looks a very special horse.

Set to run at Lingfield on Sunday in the £165,000 Fleur De Lys Chase, unfortunately it was confirmed on Tuesday that he will not be able to line up as the horse’s vaccination record is not compliant with the Rules of Racing.

With the Grade Two Cotswald Chase just six days later at Cheltenham's Trials Day meeting, it now looks as though the second favourite for the Gold Cup will have his prep run in that event.

(Credit ATR) Owner Robert Waley-Cohen had this to say about the whole situation: “It’s disappointing, but the ground at Lingfield could be awful. They’ve covered what was waterlogged ground because of the frost, which is not a good combination, and they’ve already abandoned racing on Friday, so maybe we’ve dodged a bullet.

“On the other hand, I don’t really understand why the programme is set up in such a way that they don’t advise you that more information is required until the deadline has passed.

“Whenever you’re making entries, surely it should trigger something to say you need to upload some more information.

“I’ve just got on a flight and when you’re checking in they say you need to input your Covid information and your visa information, then you can select a seat and check-in. They don’t say when you turn up at the door ‘sorry you can’t fly today because you haven’t uploaded your information’.

“I think it’s disappointing that they don’t have a trigger saying ‘thank you for you entry, you need to to give us more information before this entry becomes valid’.

“A great many people are getting caught out with it because obviously vaccination is an ongoing thing and you have to keep on uploading on a regular basis for different horses – and people make administrative errors, that’s why they’re trainers and not businessmen.”

Waley-Cohen added: “We’ve had lots of chat and I think it’s almost certain that he’ll go to the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham six days later.”