Solwhit suffers setback

Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle favourite Solwhit could be forced to miss next week's big race after scoping dirty this morning.

The six-year-old has won three of his four starts this season and cemented his place towards the head of the ante-post betting for the Cheltenham feature after winning the Toshiba-sponsored Irish equivalent at Leopardstown in January.

Trainer Charles Byrnes said: "Things are very much in the balance with Solwhit as he has scoped dirty and we've put him on antibiotics. The plan had been for him to travel over to England on Saturday morning but that will have to be put on hold now."

"We'll have to scope him again later in the week and see how it's looking. It's obviously very disappointing as he has never given any indication anything was wrong, apart from one cough."

"We're just going to see how he reacts to the antibiotics and make a late decision."