SHISHKIN (2.55) can put his Cheltenham Festival failure behind him and get back his otherwise outstanding career back on the right path by winning the Betfair Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown on Saturday.
Back in March he was sent off the odds-on favourite to complete a Festival hat-trick the Queen Mother Champion Chase and take his place as the heir to Sprinter Sacre and Altior, his stable’s two previous superstars of the division.
Yet he was never travelling with any purpose and was pulled up after eight fences to suffer his first defeat under rules. On the day Nicky Henderson blamed the soft ground but a rare bone condition which caused intermittent lameness was subsequently diagnosed.
