PLUS MYSTERY

BY DAVID YATES HENRY DE BROMHEAD can find “nothing obvious” as he seeks to find the root cause of A Plus Tard’s no-show in Saturday’s Betfair Chase.

Rachael Blackmore’s mount, the 4-6 favourite to repeat his Haydock Park triumph of 2021, was pulled up with three fences to run as victory went to the Dan Skeltontrained Protektorat.

And yesterday de Bromhead (above) said of the reigning Cheltenham Gold Cup winner: “He got home in the early hours of the morning and he seemed to trot up all right. “Something might come to light but there was nothing obvious this morning.”

The Co Waterford trainer, whose eight-year-old was pushed out to 8-1 to defend his crown at Cheltenham next March, added: “We’re going to have to run some tests and see if we can find what was amiss.”