Clarence House rescheduled for Cheltenham next Saturday - but Willie Mullins ace El Fabiolo to stay at home

Cheltenham will stage the rescheduled Clarence House Chase next Saturday after Ascot’s fixture this weekend was cancelled due to a frozen track.

It will be the fourth time in 11 years Cheltenham has taken on the Grade 1 at its Trials day meeting, although prize-money for this year’s race, which is being run as part of a Premier raceday at Cheltenham, will be £105,000 compared to £90,000 for last year’s rearranged race.

Despite the race being salvaged and run for more money this year – albeit less than the £175,000 it was due to be worth at Ascot – connections of El Fabiolo have ruled their star chaser out of the race and he will be rerouted to the Dublin Racing Festival on February 4 instead.

The BHA said the importance of the Clarence House Chase as one of the major races of the season had impacted the decision to reschedule the contest, as had the “encouragement” from those connected with likely participants and the prize-money input.

Last year, the Levy Board contributed £46,000 to the total prize-money fund for the rearranged race. This year, it has put in total funding of £45,000 with the BHA and the Jockey Club providing the remainder of the purse.

In addition to the Clarence House Chase being rescheduled, the Grade 2 Warfield Mares’ Hurdle and the Grade 2 Rossington Main Hurdle, which were due to be run at Ascot and Haydock, which was also cancelled because of the weather, will take place at Doncaster next weekend. The Listed Alan Swinbank Mares’ Bumper that was lost from Market Rasen’s cancelled card on Friday will be run at the course on February 6.

Tom Byrne, the BHA’s head of racing and betting, said: “We are grateful to Cheltenham, Doncaster and Market Rasen for agreeing to host these races and to the Levy Board for their funding support. We hope that retaining these opportunities is welcomed by fans of the sport as well as the connections of all the possible contenders.

“When rescheduling, there are often questions regarding the reduced prize-money values the races are subsequently run for. Where a race is added to a pre-existing card at a different racecourse, there are usually significant challenges for that new venue, including the limited time to secure sponsorship support, changing ITV coverage and existing prize-money commitments.

“Therefore, a combination of additional Levy Board and BHA prize-money funds are utilised to support the racecourse executive contribution and entry fees to run these races at as high a value as possible. This is usually below the original value due to the limited nature of those additional central funds.

“The alternative would likely be to not reschedule these races at all and so where it is still considered in the overall best interests of customers and participants, we always look to do so.”

El Fabiolo (near side) and Jonbon: were due to clash at AscotCredit: Edward Whitaker

The Clarence House Chase had been set to feature a significant head-to-head between Ireland and Britain’s leading two-mile chasers El Fabiolo and Jonbon prior to its cancellation on Thursday. Last year, El Fabiolo’s trainer Willie Mullins committed Energumene to the rearranged Clarence House Chase after Ascot was called off but there will be no repeat with his star name this year.

In a statement on X, El Fabiolo’s joint-owner Simon Munir said: “We have decided that El Fabiolo could run at the Dublin Racing Festival on February 4 without the need to travel over to England.”

With temperatures set to rise over the weekend, suggestions had been put forward to delay the Clarence House Chase fixture by 24 hours and to run the meeting at Ascot on Sunday rather than Saturday.

However, in response to the proposal, Will Aitkenhead, Ascot’s head of corporate and industry affairs, wrote on X: “As well as the considerable logistical challenges, our model at Ascot and prize-money depends hugely on ticket sales and hospitality, the vast majority of which would be lost at such short notice.”

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