"Unfortunately, he won’t make Cheltenham" - Allaho ruled out of Ryanair defense

Allaho's participation at Cheltenham was already in-doubt after Willie Mullins' star suffered a setback at the start of the season. Following a positive update last week, Mullins had planned on sending Allaho straight to Cheltenham - a tactic that he's used with several Festival winners down the years.

During his Cheltenham Festival stable tour on Monday, Willie Mullins revealed that Allaho has suffered a second set-back over the weekend, an injury that would force the Ryanair winner to miss the rest of the season.

“He worked very well on Saturday. He came back, dried off, we put him into his box and had his lunch." Mullins said. "Then after lunch we found him to be a little bit distressed and we thought he was getting a colic, but it didn’t look like a colic. It was something else,” said Mullins on Monday."

“We brought him straight down to Fethard Equine Hospital and they found that he had got a bleed in his abdomen, which is hugely unusual. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a horse before."

“He was comfortable over the weekend, but still critical. This morning he moved off the critical list. His bloods and everything have come down to normal levels. I got good word from the hospital this morning but, unfortunately, he won’t make Cheltenham. That’s him for the season. We don’t know what caused the bleeding, there was no fracture or anything, but something caused it and that’s going to take a while to heal."

“Hopefully, he’ll make a good recovery and he’ll be back for next season.”

With Allaho officially ruled out, Fakir D'Oudairies is the new favourite for the 2023 Ryanair Chase. Shishkin sits third in the Cheltenham Festival betting, but that could all change when Nicky Henderson's star takes on Fakir D'Oudairies in the Ascot Chase this weekend.