BHA will make decision this week on Philip Fenton’s runners at Cheltenham Festival

BRIAN O'CONNOR

A decision on whether or not the British Horseracing Authority will permit trainer Philip Fenton to run his Cheltenham entries at the upcoming festival is expected by the middle of this week.

With a hearing into charges against Fenton of possession of unlicensed medicines, including anabolic steroids, postponed until after next week's festival, the BHA is considering its options about what to do about the Co Tipperary trainer's entries at Cheltenham.

They include Last Instalment, third favourite for the Gold Cup, who was one of three horses tested by the BHA during a visit to Fenton's yard last Wednesday.

The results of those tests are being fast-tracked at a lab in Newmarket. “It looks like it will be the middle of the week, maybe Wednesday, but there’s nothing set about that,” a BHA spokesman said yesterday.

The BHA's drug-test team took blood samples from Last Instalment, Dunguib, who is entered for both the Coral Cup and the County Hurdle, and also Value At Risk, a 14/1 shot for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

They also took hair samples from the horses.

Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud, owners of Last Instalment, welcomed the visit of testers to Fenton’s stables near Carrick-On-Suir and they are awaiting news from the BHA.

“We’re like everyone else, waiting to hear,” Eddie O’Leary, who manages Gigginstown’s bloodstock interests, said yesterday. “I believe it will be the middle of the week. We’ve certainly heard nothing.”