CYFOR MALTA, the clear favourite for Saturday's Tripleprint Gold Cup Chase at Cheltenham when betting opened on Monday, looks likely to miss the race. William Hill have removed the five-year-old from their betting for the contest after rumours circulated that all was not well with him. Other bookmakers have suspended their markets while they await information.

THE PAST returns to haunt Suny Bay at Haydock on Saturday when Britain's top-rated steeplechaser will encounter two old adversaries that his connections would happily never see again. Lord Gyllene and Earth Summit, who have relegated the grey to the role of runner-up in the last two Grand Nationals, take him on again in the Tommy Whittle Chase at the Lancashire course.

THE ENTIRE shape of the ante-post markets on some of the National Hunt season's major steeplechases could change dramatically after the running of the Edward Hanmer Memorial Chase at Haydock today.

ANTE-POST UPDATE

EXACTLY 366 days ago, Jamie Osborne was scraped off the turf at Cheltenham with his wrist so badly damaged that it would be months before he could even hold the reins of a steeplechaser. He left the course in far better spirits yesterday, though, after a front-running success on Grey Shot in the handicap hurdle which could yet be repeated in the Champion Hurdle itself over the same course and distance next March.

THE IRONY of Cyfor Malta's hugely impressive victory in the Murphy's Gold Cup here yesterday was lost on no one. As the jockey Tony McCoy, who is about to feel the full weight of officialdom's wrath for persistent misuse of the whip, passed the post on the five-year-old he stood in his stirrups and waved the offending, and in this instance entirely redundant, article at the massed crowds, who roared back their approval.

The former top jump jockey Steve Smith Eccles analyses today's Murphy's Gold Cup

ANYONE WANTING to back Cyfor Malta for today's Murphy's Gold Cup should take the 3-1 with Ladbrokes, The Magic Sign are clearly taking a stand against the Martin-Pipe trained favourite, who looks sure to start at slightly shorter odds than that. Papillon - available at 10-1 on Tuesday but only 15-2 now - and Mandys Mantino - 8-1 on Tuesday, but only 13-2 now - have been the best backed ante-post, along with Dr Leunt, available at 16-1 on Tuesday but no better than 12-1 this morning.

IT WAS a familiar story on Sunday morning when British punters awoke to empty wallets and full-blown inferiority complexes after another night of humiliation at the Breeders' Cup. The meeting is as close as racing fans ever get to supporting a team in an international fixture, so the willingness to believe in Britain's challengers even after so many earlier disappointments is understandable. Even so, it might be better in future years to ignore the sideshow in America and concentrate instead on the one branch of racing in which Britain is the world leader.

DETECTIVES investigating the doctor accused of murdering four women patients are now said to be linking a total of 116 deaths with the case.

BRITISH MURDER squad detectives have flown to Malta to discuss the possible exhumation of a former patient of Dr Harold Shipman, the Manchester GP charged with four murders.

MURDER SQUAD detectives are planning to exhume three more bodies as part of their inquiry into a GP accused of killing four of his patients.

DAVE WORRELL'S late, late winner, which put the Republic of Ireland Under-21 team's first European Championship campaign victory on the board on Tuesday, is likely to spark an official protest from Malta to Uefa, European football's governing body, over the referee, Ladislav Gadosi.

Republic of Ireland Under-21 2 Malta Under-21 1