Henrietta Knight has revealed that Best Mate started coughing yesterday - a day after his defeat in the Lexus Chase.
Beaten seven lengths by Beef Or Salmon in the Leopardstown race, Best Mate had cut his head on the ferry journey over from England and Miss Knight had also pointed to the going - officially soft to heavy - as the cause for his loss.
But the trainer told At The Races today: "I had thought it was the ground, but now he is coughing, and he is coughing quite a lot.
"Yesterday evening in his stables he gave a few coughs, and this morning when we fed him, he gave some coughs after that. When he went out on light exercise he coughed about 10 or 12 times.
"He was obviously incubating some kind of a bug. I would not want to run him on that type of ground again because I don't think he likes it, but he did not show any of his sparkle even in the heavy ground.
"I suppose if he was feeling one degree under, it was probably a reason for being a bit lifeless in the race."