Cheltenham Festival 2024: Cross Country Chase abandoned

Wednesday's Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival has been called off and will not be rescheduled after parts of the track were waterlogged.

Officials said 11mm of rain fell at the course on Tuesday.

Six races will still take place on the Old Course with the start of racing put back by 15 minutes to 13:45 GMT.

Willie Mullins runs favourite El Fabiolo in the Queen Mother Champion Chase (now 16:00 GMT) as he nears a historic 100 Cheltenham Festival wins.

A Tuesday treble led by Champion Hurdle victor State Man put the Irishman on 97 victories.

Last year's Arkle Chase winner El Fabiolo had been due to renew rivalry with runner-up Jonbon but trainer Nicky Henderson has withdrawn his contender.

Henderson, whose stable star Constitution Hill was ruled out of the Champion Hurdle after a poor workout, has also pulled First Street and Kingston Pride from other races on Wednesday.

He has also taken Shishkin out of Friday's Gold Cup and Champ from the Stayers' Hurdle on Thursday.

"I'm afraid we have had to make some very tough decisions following the very disappointing performances of all bar one of our horses yesterday," he said.