Jezki set to return in Irish Champion Hurdle
Winner of the Champion Hurdle at the 2014 Cheltenham Festival and eight-time Grade One winner overall, Jessica Harrington’s stable star has not been seen in competitive action since beating old foe Hurricane Fly on his first start over three miles at Punchestown in April of last year.
The eight-year-old was being readied for an appearance over the festive period, but did not take up an engagement in Leopardstown’s Christmas Hurdle and will not run at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve.
Harrington said: “You won’t see Jezki at the weekend. You’ll see him here (Leopardstown) for the Irish Champion Hurdle.
“That’s the most suitable race for him next time.
“He just wasn’t right for this week, so we’ll go there.”
Jezki was third to Hurricane Fly in the 2015 Irish Champion Hurdle and last of four runners the previous year.
The JP McManus-owned gelding is a best priced 14-1 to make a triumphant return to Prestbury Park in the Stayers’ Hurdle in March.
The judge who called the placings wrong at Lingfield on Wednesday has been stood down by the BHA, which has come under fresh attack for declining to offer compensation to punters and bookmakers.
The incident, which saw the third and fourth-placed horses in the 7f nursery reversed after judge Graham Ford incorrectly declared the result, meant those who backed Elementary, the horse initially and incorrectly placed third, were paid out on each-way bets, while those who had backed Sun Angel, the actual third who was originally placed fourth, were not.
Some bookmakers, including William Hill, paid out on both horses.
