Cloone River out of Chandler
The 10-year-old had been the 4-1 favourite with the sponsors for the January 28 event but trainer Paul Nolan has decided to bypass the race after the gelding aggravated an old injury.
“We schooled Cloone River over a few fences on Friday morning and he was quite stiff that evening,” Nolan told the Racing Post.
“He seems to have aggravated the muscle problem high up in his back that troubled him after he fell in the Galway Hurdle and we are going to have to take things easy with him for a few weeks.
“He was sound when we pulled him out this morning, but he was sore on one side yesterday and I know that if we worked him again he would be feeling the muscle problem.”
Cloone River, winner of both his starts over fences, is as low as 8-1 with Coral for the Queen Mother Champion Chase but Nolan is not sure he will be ready for the Festival event.
He added: “He will be going up to (vet) Ned Gowing on the Curragh on Monday to have a scan and when that is done we should know more about his prospects for the rest of the season.
“We are still hoping to get him to Cheltenham for the Queen Mother Champion Chase, but we will have to wait and see. What is definite is that we are going to have to give the Victor Chandler a miss.”
Meanwhile Barry Geraghty insists punters should not rule Moscow Flyer out of the Queen Mother Champion Chase picture.
The 12-year-old has won the race twice before but he has looked a little lacklustre in his last two starts, suffering a surprise defeat at Navan before finishing out of the frame at Leopardstown over Christmas.
However, big-race pilot Geraghty believes Jessica Harrington’s stable star can return to his best when the yard begins to hit a bit of form.
“He ran well enough (at Leopardstown) but I just thought he caught the top of the second-last,” Geraghty told At The Races.
“A lot of Jessie’s horses, Macs Joy included, are 10 lengths off where they were last year - I’d be putting Moscow’s disappointment down to that.
“Some of them have just been running disappointingly and blowing themselves up. If he can get back to where he was, his best form, I think he will take a lot of beating.”
Moscow Flyer, who was unbeaten in all his completed starts until meeting with defeat at Punchestown last April, is a general 5-1 chance for the Cheltenham Festival.
