It is a worrying time for ante-post punters with horses for Gordon Elliott's yard moving to different trainers ahead of the festival and Britain's leading jumps handler Paul Nicholls has explained that switching horses to different yards so close to a major target is full of risks.
Nicholls explained this after it was revealed that Cheveley Park Stud will send eight horses trained by Gordon Elliott to other Irish trainers Willie Mullins and Henry De Bromhead in light of the ongoing investigation.
So far the shakeup has seen horse like Envoi Allen, Ballyadam and Quilixios join Henry De Bromhead with Champion Bumper chance Sir Gerhard going to Willie Mullins.
Nicholls himself during his career has seen horses change between his yard and other trainers and has given out a warning to punters that this is not an ideal position to be in so close to the Cheltenham festival.
Last year Willie Mullins lost a lot of Jared Sullivan-owned horses to Nicholls and the 11 time champion trainer has said how difficult it has been for those animals to adapt to their new surroundings.
(Credit Racing Post) "It wouldn't be ideal for horse or trainer," Nicholls said.
"You wouldn't want to be changing a horse's diet so close to Cheltenham. It would have a massive impact, it wouldn't be increasing your chances.
"You'd almost want to be on the same hay, the same feed, the same diet. People do things so totally different.
"I had quite a lot of horses come to us from Willie's this year and it's taken them the best part of a year to get used to our routine. It would have been the same the other way round.
"It is quite a shock for the horses. It's not going to be an advantage moving so close to Cheltenham, that's for sure."