As expected, Edwardstone is a non runner in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham this afternoon.

Alan King had warned on Saturday his Arkle winner was very unlikely to run in the Sunday feature – where he was set to meet Dan Skelton’s Nube Negra – due to unsuitably quick ground.

David Pipe has also taken Sizing Pottsie out of the same race, leaving just Ganapathi and Daly Tiger to take on Nube Negra.

In other non runner news, Nicky Henderson’s Mister Coffey is an absentee from the opening novice chase, and Father Of Jazz, Skelton’s potentially smart recruit from the Flat, misses out on the novice hurdle.

And in Ireland there was disappointment at Navan, with the ground scuppering Ferny Hollow’s eagerly-awaited comeback in the Fortria Chase.