Jonbon out of Champion Chase due to health concerns

Jonbon has been ruled out of today's Champion Chase at Cheltenham due to concerns over the health of trainer Nicky Henderson's travelling contingent to the Cotswolds course.

Henderson has made the decision to pull his much-fancied horse out of the main race of the second day of this year's Festival as a result of analysing how his charges raced on Tuesday's opening day.

The Seven Barrows trainer said that there was "something affecting nearly all our horses" during Tuesday's racing, and added that while it was a tough decision to withdraw Jonbon, it was one made in the best interests of the horse.

First Street and Kingston Pride have also been withdrawn and Henderson expects further non-runners throughout the remaining days of this year's Festival.

Henderson went into this year’s Festival under a cloud following the withdrawal of Champion Hurdle title holder Constitution Hill and a disappointing run of form from his stable as a whole.

Luccia provided Henderson with a boost when finishing third behind State Man in the Champion Hurdle, but his other five runners on Tuesday were all pulled up.

"I'm afraid we've had to make some very tough decisions following the very disappointing performances of all bar one of our horses yesterday," said a statement released on Henderson's social media.

"It was there for all to see that there's obviously something affecting nearly all our horses and consequently we have reluctantly decided that Jonbon, First Street and Kingston Pride will not run today.

"It's impossible to identify any reason for all the disappointments and none of these three horses have given us any cause for concern and all yesterday's runners were scoped clean post-race and I'm glad to say all are sound this morning. There