Alan Brazil’s best excuses as Sports Breakfast host pulls latest Cheltenham Festival sickie, despite vowing: ‘I’ll be there for all five days!’

Well, we didn’t see this coming...

Alan Brazil pulled his latest talkSPORT sickie as the host missed Gold Cup day and the final Sports Breakfast show of the 2020 Cheltenham Festival on Friday.

But fear not, listeners - he hasn’t got coronavirus.

Nope. His excuse this year? He’s got a bad back.

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Just a week ago, Big Al made a pledge to be in action for all five days of Cheltenham week this year.

About time, wouldn’t you say?

But he has fallen at the last hurdle, as Laura Woods was drafted in for Friday’s show, with Big Al staying away from the course in the morning with a complaint of back pain.

Big Al is no stranger to a no-show, but he always has his reasons.

And marvelbet369.com went down memory lane to recall his best and most farfetched excuses for not showing up during the racing season.

Some of these are gold.

Cheltenham 2004:

Big Al claimed he couldn’t get to the course after being locked INSIDE his B&B. The tube!

Cheltenham 2017:

Exhaustion. Big Al said he needed to save himself for his wife, Jill’s birthday... which just so happens to fall on St Patrick’s Day. Work that one out.

Ascot 2017:

Alan ate some dodgy crab that caused him to miss the following day through food poisoning.

Cheltenham 2018:

Alan had a bad throat infection... that he blamed on talkSPORT colleagues!

Ally McCoist recalls: “This was by talkSPORT debut! I remember I turned up looking forward to doing my first show with Al.

“Scott the producer said to me, ‘You looking forward to your show?’

“I said, ‘Very much so’.

“‘Good’, he said, ‘you’re hosting it!’”

Now we’ll be adding ‘bad back’ to the list!

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