Captain Teague claims walkover win at Exeter

Dan Skelton's Grade Two novice hurdle winner Deafening Silence and Sue Gardner’s Daring Plan were due to line up against Captain Teague, but failed to appear.

“We were waiting for the other horse to come in, but it’s a bizarre situation,” Nicholls told ITV Racing.

“Sue thinks the ground is fast enough, I’d say the chase track might be slippery which is my concern, I thought they were slipping in the first over hurdles as it’s mizzly (on top of good ground).

“It’s no one’s fault, it’s just the weather. We had all that rain a few weeks ago then it has just dried up. Exeter is not a track that is easy to water.

“Welfare of the horses is the big issue and Sue obviously feels it is the right thing, and so does Dan, not to run theirs today.

“We’ve got a walkover but we haven’t learned anything so it saves him for another day.”

Nicholls admitted the ground was quick enough and stressed he could understand the decisions of his fellow trainers.

He said: “You can’t take any chances, to be honest I’d say it was borderline whether it is safe enough on the chase track, it is probably good to firm. If you’ve a horse who wants a bit of cut you are probably not going to run.

“We were prepared to take a chance because we want some experience, but now we’ll have to go back to the drawing board and find somewhere else.

“A two-runner novice chase would have been difficult in any case, you’d much rather run in a bigger field as anything can go wrong. He’s safe and sound and can go another day.

“He’s one of our better ones, he’s won a Grade One. We started him early last year and he didn’t last the season and I’m determined this year not to give him too hard a time so he lasts until the spring.

“Everybody at home will be disappointed there’s no race but we have to be careful. We all want to run when we can but it’s frustrating at the moment, you can’t change the weather.”

Skelton blamed the weather rather than the course.

“You’ve got to deal with facts, not emotions, it is no one’s fault, it’s not like the clerk has overwatered – it’s just the weather and it’s highly frustrating,” said Skelton.

“I’m sure there’ll be lots of comments about how embarrassing it is, but it is driven into us from every angle about welfare so if you don’t think you are doing the right thing you have to act appropriately. It would be a lot more embarrassing if we were running horses and they were getting injured.

“It will change, it’s the UK, it will rain and it probably won’t stop when it does. I wish we could put on a more appetising show but we can’t beat the weather.”