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Bog Warrior, owned by Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud, will race at Naas this week instead of going to Cheltenham. ©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan
Cheltenham 2012

Running Sacre-d: Peddlers Cross and Bog Warrior pull out of Arkle

Two of Sprinter Sacre’s main rivals for the Arkle Chase have opted out of next Tuesday’s race at Cheltenham.

TWO OF THE top challengers for this year’s Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham have decided to try their luck elsewhere, avoiding a clash with Nicky Henderson’s hotly-tipped Sprinter Sacre.

Peddlers Cross and Bog Warrior have both swerved next the showpiece novice chase, which goes to post in the Cotswolds this day next week.

Peddlers Cross, who chased home Hurricane Fly in last year’s Champion Hurdle before switching to the bigger obstacles this season, will go now in the 2m4f Jewson Novices’ Chase instead, trainer Donald McCain revealed in his Betfair blog.

Sprinter Sacre won by a mammoth 16 lengths when the two met at Kempton in December, and connections feel that an on-form Peddlers needs the slightly longer trip to thrive.

“It has been a long road back from the setback he had at Kempton in December and we feel at this stage that the 2m4f event will be more beneficial to him in the long term, as we did when running him in the Neptune rather than the Supreme when he was a novice hurdler.

Because of his problems after Kempton, we haven’t been able to school him as intensively as we would have liked and feel that going that half stride slower in the longer race makes sense.

Bog Warrior, owner by Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud, will skip Cheltenham altogether and race instead at Naas this weekend.

Davy Russell, the horse’s regular partner, broke the news at a Racing Post preview evening in Galway last night.

“He seems to be back to the same form he was in before Christmas and will go to Naas [a Grade 3 chase] on Sunday,” Russell said (Racing Post). “He’ll give Cheltenham a skip this year.”

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