Plans for Dibea Times have been thrown into confusion following the juvenile's disappointing performance in Saturday's Sunderlands Imperial Cup.

The four-year-old was sent off the 10 to 3 favourite for the Sandown contest but was pulled up after failing to respond to jockey Graham Lee's urgings having travelled well for much of the race.

Trainer Malcolm Jefferson said: "He has come out of the race okay - I just don't know what happened. We'll have him tested, but he has eaten up and he's as sound as a pound this morning.

"I thought Graham gave him a lovely ride. He was always in the right place, he went into third and that was him. He was always going well and then he stopped.

"He's only a young horse and maybe it was going that speed on heavy ground."

Dibea Times had been unbeaten in his previous four outings, winning three races since his import from France.

And the gelding had been spoken of as a possible Smurfit Champion Hurdle contender after Jefferson had rated him in the same league as top-class hurdler Dato Star.

"It's hard enough to plan for horses as it is with one thing and another so we'll just have to wait," Jefferson added. "It hasn't dented my confidence in the horse."

Monarchos established himself as a live Kentucky Derby contender when powering his way to victory in the Grade One Florida Derby on Saturday.

John Ward's charge made it three wins on the bounce this term when beating Out-of-the-box by four and a half lengths in the Gulfstream Park contest.