Ante-post favourite Luccia has been ruled out of Saturday’s Unibet Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown due to an unsatisfactory scope.
Nicky Henderson had taken the bold decision to run the mare against the boys after the five-year-old made a sparkling hurdling debut in Listed company at Newbury.
While that plan has had to be shelved, Henderson is not too concerned by the setback, saying Luccia can drop back into novice company with a penalty if he so wishes.
“Rather disappointingly, she has scoped dirty and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Henderson.
“I haven’t given any thought as to where she might go now but we’ve plenty of opportunities, bearing in mind she’s only won once.
“I did want to get two runs into her but as she won a Listed race, I just thought we might as well be brave and look at this. It’s not to be and Paul Sandy (owner) and myself are very disappointed.
“It would have been fascinating but we can’t do it and that’s that. If the worse comes to the worse, we can go back into a mares’ novice, she doesn’t have to run in anything fancy.
“You just couldn’t tell how long she’d be off. She will tell us when she’s better but there was mucus and she’s got an infection, so she’ll have some antibiotics for a few days and hopefully it won’t hold her up long. She’s fit as a fiddle anyway.”
Authorised Speed is the new 6/4 favourite with Paddy Power for the Tolworth.
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