Minsk to miss Triumph

Former JCB Triumph Hurdle favourite Minsk will miss Cheltenham after he was found to have an infection when beaten on his jumping debut at Naas on Saturday.

As a result, trainer Dessie Hughes and owner Barry Connell have decided to pull the plug on Minsk’s hurdling programme for this season.

The four-year-old will probably not run again until towards the end of the Flat season, when he will return to the John Oxx stable, for whom he won the Irish Cesarewitch in impressive fashion last autumn.