Porlock Bay will not defend Cheltenham's St James's Place Festival Hunters' Chase which he won last year.
Trainer/rider Will Biddick says the Randox Foxhunuters' Chase at Aintree is now the target for the 11-year-old after a scope revealed the horse was suffering with a lung condition. He is being treated with a nebulizer machine which turns liquid medicine into a mist that can reach the lungs, and he should recover fully.
Biddick says: "Cheltenham will come too soon, so Aintree is now the target. He'll have a school over some similar jumps beforehand, but he's a bold horse and I've no doubt he will take to those fences."
Porlock Bay, who is owned by John Studd, arrived in Britain last season after racing in France, and made a winning debut at Kimble in November 2020. He then finished second at Wincanton before beating Ireland's top hunter chaser, Billaway, at the Cheltenham Festival. Biddick had to miss the ride because amateurs were not allowed to compete due to Covid, and Lorcan Williams was in the saddle.
This season Porlock Bay has run twice under his trainer, finishing second each time, initially to Premier Magic at Chaddesley Corbett, and then when chasing home Salvatore at Bangor. Biddick says: "I wasn't happy with that performance – he travelled easily to three out but that was it, so we took him to [wind specialist] Ben Brain and he found the problem.
"Funnily enough I don't feel disappointed at missing the chance of a ride at Cheltenham. Being the trainer and watching him win there last year was a feeling I doubt I will ever get again. It will take something special to match it."
Porlock Bay with the magnificent trophy he won and (l to r) Will Biddick, Jill and John Studd and groom Ella Ortewell *photo Carl Evans