Champagne Fever withdrawn from Queen Mother Champion Chase because of bite

Trainer Willie Mullens has revealed that Champagne Fever was removed from the Queen Mother Champion Chase field at the Cheltenham Festival after being bitten by a stablemate.

Champagne Fever, a two-time winner at the Festival, was one of the market-leaders for day two's feature race, but was pulled out this morning following a bite in his box.

"I think it was Un Atout who did it," PA quotes Mullins as saying. "It's very little, but we felt it wasn't worth the risk.

"The swelling just got a bit bigger this morning and we felt it was safer not to run."

Third-favourite Dodging Bullets (9/2) won the race under Sam Twiston-Davies for Paul Nicholls.