RACING: Florida Pearl is unlikely to make a sixth visit to the Cheltenham Festival after it was revealed that the 11-year-old scoped badly after being pulled up in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday.

Trainer Willie Mullins admitted yesterday his charge was "just okay".

"He has lost a lot of weight and he scoped bad after the race," he said. "It offers a good excuse for his poor performance, but he had worked and scoped clean earlier in the week."

Immediate plans are on hold for the Florida Son gelding, but the trainer is taking an optimistic view about the chances of his being seen on the track again this season.

"We'll see what treatment we can use when we talk to the vets," he said. "But the short term is on hold and I doubt he will be going to Cheltenham and, hopefully, we can prepare him for Aintree or Punchestown."

Sunday's race was won by evens favourite Beef Or Salmon who is a best price 5 to 1 for the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Kieren Fallon was on the mark at Wolverhampton yesterday to land his first success of the season by booting home Ampoule in a maiden stakes.

The champion jockey, who made a belated return to the track at Lingfield on Saturday after spending a month in an Irish clinic in a bid to beat a drink problem, took the mount with original jockey Brett Doyle a flu victim.

Fallon was content to hold Clive Brittain's charge in the rear of the field as Logique made the early running, but the partnership made headway down the back straight.

Taking up the running at the two furlong marker, Fallon needed to shake up his mount before pushing out the 10 to 11 favourite for a five lengths success over Celtic Lace. Glitter and Glory was a further five lengths back in third.

"That was good," said Fallon on dismounting. "I'm delighted to be back amongst the winners again."

There will be a maximum of nine runners contesting the Ritz Club Ascot Chase at the Berkshire track on Saturday following yesterday's announcement of the five-day acceptors.

They are headed by French raider Douze-Douze, who is set to travel from the Bordeaux yard of Guillaume Macaire to contest the extended two miles, three furlongs event.

Martin Pipe will choose from three representatives in the shape of Tiutchev, Tresor De Mai and Wahiba Sands, while Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson could be double-handed in the Grade One affair.

Fondmort and Geos remain from Henderson's original trio of entries, while Nicholls, who entered four, relies on the chances of Fadalko and Young Devereaux, recent winner of the Tote Exacta Chase at Kempton. Charlie Mann supplies the remaining acceptor in the shape of nine-year-old Dunston Bill.

Nicholls confirmed Young Devereaux would contest the event and Fadalko may also take his chance depending on Saturday's conditions.

Prior to his Kempton success, the former also won a valuable Ascot handicap, and his trainer feels the Lord Americo gelding is now ready to leave that company and step up in trip.

"He should go well at level weights," said Nicholls. "I don't see him going a bit further as a problem as long as the ground's not testing."

Meanwhile, bookmakers refused to accept bets on the first race at Plumpton yesterday as the on-course layers' protest against the proposed new Levy scheme resurfaced.

And organisers of the strike suggested that the dispute could escalate to the degree that bookmakers might boycott meetings completely.

Layers refused to price up the opening conditional handicap hurdle to highlight their complaint against the decision to introduce a 10 per cent tax on gross profits.

And in choosing Plumpton, whose chairman is the British Horseracing Board chairman Peter Savill, bookmakers will have felt they were causing both maximum inconvenience and embarrassment.

Only one of the 26 boards and rails bookmakers, William Hill, accepted bets on the contest.

That provided insufficient grounds for starting prices to be returned, as under emergency measures introduced by the SP executive last month, a minimum of three bookmakers who will "accept bets to good money" need to lay prices.

Spokesman for the Plumpton strikers was Greg Georgiou, who bets as GG Racing.

"This is Peter Savill's course and by striking on the first race we want to show that we are still as strong as ever. It is not going to die down," said Georgiou.

"And there's also implications later on that bookmakers are not going to go to the racetracks at all to show what the effect is of not having any on-course bookmakers."