Black Jack Ketchum is expected to come back at the Mears Group Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday. The seven-year-old was not able to ride in the John Smith’s Hurdle at Wetherby and the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury because of an unsatisfactory blood count.

However, trainer Jonjo O’Neill is happy about the horse’s health. “Black Jack Ketchum seems in grand old form at home and, hopefully, whatever the disorder was he's over it,” he said. “The plan is to go to Cheltenham for the Relkeel Hurdle as long as the ground is not desperate, as we wouldn't want to be running him on heavy.”

O’Neill explained that if the ground had been bad at Cheltenham, he would have considered waiting a week for the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot but decided to let Ketchum ride in Cheltenham.