Cowboy set to miss Festival
The 10-year-old has not been seen since landing a Grade One event at Punchestown in April 2004, when he defeated his stablemate and the then stayers’ hurdle champion Iris’s Gift.
“We are losing the battle and he will not make Cheltenham,” said O’Neill.
“I will have to talk to the owners but he will probably be retired.”
Rhinestone Cowboy was 6-1 third favourite with the sponsors for the stayers' championship on March 16.
Third to Rooster Booster in the 2003 Champion Hurdle, he then overturned the form when beating the grey by three-quarters of a length at Aintree in April 2004.
The Be My Native gelding won 10 of his 14 starts and amassed £300,000 in prize money.
Owned by John Magnier, he was regularly partnered by his son and amateur rider, JP Magnier.
O’Neill also revealed that Refinement will run in the Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival.
The mare is also entered in the Coral Cup and the Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices’ Hurdle but will go for the longer race, for which she is 10-1 with Coral.
“She will go for the two and a half miler at Cheltenham,” said O’Neill.
The seven-year-old, who has finished second and fourth in the Champion Bumper, took her unbeaten run over hurdles to five with an eye-catching success at Huntingdon on Thursday.
“She looked like she did it very well and the further she was going, the more it suited her,” added O’Neill.
Meanwhile Patricksnineteenth, Paul Webber’s principal Cheltenham and Aintree hope, will miss the rest of the season due to heat in a leg.
The lightly-raced nine-year-old had three entries at next month’s Festival and is also engaged in the John Smith’s Grand National.
“We’ve got a hold up with him, I’m afraid. It’s heartbreaking stuff,” the Banbury trainer told At The Races.
“He did have stem cell surgery with a year off. That leg has been fine but his off-fore, which has never had a blemish on it, saw some warmth appear in it last Wednesday.
“Tomorrow’s Racing Post Chase had been the absolute aim. The ground would have been perfect for him. He’s always been brilliant down there (at Sandown).
“I hope he gets mended well enough in time to show his true ability in the future.”
