Horse Racing: Times to miss Festival

Dibea Times misses next week’s Cheltenham Festival, but Malcolm Jefferson is hopeful that his stable star will run at either Aintree or Ayr next month.

The five-year-old, who was bought in France by Ray Anderson Green, has been suffering from a "deep-seated" lung infection which has prevented him from showing his best form this season and he has been undergoing a course of antibiotics as a result.

His Malton trainer said: ‘‘He is coming back, he is happier in himself - he might make Liverpool for a handicap or one of the better races.

‘‘If that comes a bit too soon we will go to Ayr (for the Scottish Champion Hurdle) with him, I have always said he is a high class horse and if I can bring him back on song he will prove it.’’

He went on: ‘‘We have had him scoped and the infection has gone, but we have not yet scoped him after any good work because he hasn’t done any yet.

‘‘I am much happier with him now because he is beginning to like what he is doing again, that is the big thing with any racehorse, they want to enjoy it and it is nice to see him enjoying it.’’