Nicky Henderson may have to fork out £4,599 from his own pocket after mistakenly not entering Epatante in the Close Brothers’ Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Henderson held his hands up after the 2020 winner featured among the Champion Hurdle entries but not the race for which she is 4-1 co-second favourite when the nominations were revealed on Tuesday.
This season the J P McManus-owned Epatante has twice been on the wrong end of heavy defeats by superstar hurdler and stablemate Constitution Hill, the long odds-on favourite for the Champion, finishing 17 lengths behind in their latest encounter in the Christmas Hurdle.
She was supposed to be put in the 2m4f race, for which defending champion Marie’s Rock is also trained by Henderson, but her name was not among the 24 entries.
“It was my mistake, no one else’s,” Henderson told the Racing Post. “I would suggest she’s included in the race from a betting perspective, you can take it from me that as far as we’re concerned she’s in the race and we’ll decide whether to go for it, or the Champion Hurdle, closer to the race as we had originally planned to do.”
He added: “I’ve told them I’ll personally cover the cost if she is supplemented as it was my fault.”
Constitution Hill and dual Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle feature in 17 entries for the Unitbet Champion Hurdle
Marie’s Rock has also been entered in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle but Middleham Park Racing racing manager Tom Palin said: “The plan is to go on the Tuesday and try to defend her crown.”
