Studmaster misses Sandown trip

Studmaster will bypass Saturday’s Sunderlands Imperial Cup at Sandown and could also miss next week’s Cheltenham Festival.

Trainer Jessica Harrington had intended running the six-year-old in the Listed Sandown event before going on to tackle the Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle next Friday.

However, heavy recent rain is causing Harrington some concern and she has decided to scrap plans to run the Pierse Hurdle winner this weekend.

“Studmaster is going to have top weight so we’ve decided against running him,” Harrington told the Racing Post.

“He is still a possible for the County Hurdle but we’ll delay a decision until we know what the ground is going to be like and see what weight he gets.”