Morning Assembly out for the season
One of the leading novice chasers either side of the Irish Sea last season, he finished third in both the RSA Chase and at the Punchestown Festival.
The Irish Grand National had been mooted as a possible target but he will now not be seen until next season.
“They (the vets) just didn’t give him the all-clear,” Fahy said.“They just weren’t happy enough with him and said that he needed another couple of weeks, but I said we just haven’t got them and that we’d finish it and start next year.
“There’s no problem, he just needs time. He’s nearly 100%, but the vets aren’t aren’t happy to let us kick on and he’s too good to take chances with.”
Meanwhile, plans are on hold for Teaforthree after he missed a run at Warwick yesterday due to a bruised foot.
The 11-year-old was set to compete in the Willoughby De Broke Open Hunters’ Chase as trainer Rebecca Curtis plotted a route towards the Foxhunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
A return to Aintree for the Crabbie’s Grand National – he suffered an injury at the Chair last April, but had finished third in the race in 2013 – is again the conditional aim.
But his preparation for the big meetings will need to be slightly revised after he suffered a late setback ahead of his seasonal debut.
Curtis said: “It’s nothing serious, he’s just slightly tender on one of his feet.
“We schooled him on Wednesday and whether he did something then, I’m not sure. He’ll be fine in a couple of days.
“There’s a hunter chase at Wincanton next Thursday he could run in.
“I’d like to get him qualified for the Cheltenham Foxhunter as I think that race would suit him perfectly and then we’d hope to go on to the National.
“We’ll just have to take it race by race with him as he’s quite hard to keep fit now.
“The reason we’ve decided to go hunting with him is that he’d have top weight in any handicap and at his age and the fact he hasn’t won for so long, we thought it would make sense.
“It’s a nice route to go down and we want to give him every chance.”
Evan Williams is keeping his fingers crossed conditions at Cheltenham do not deteriorate to allow On Tour to line up in tomorrow’s Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle.
Since being beaten on his hurdling debut at Worcester last summer, the seven-year-old has racked up a hat-trick of victories, most recently running out a decisive winner of a valuable handicap hurdle at Haydock.
He is set to test his powers at Grade Two level at Prestbury Park this weekend, provided the ground is not too testing.
Williams said: “On Tour will run at Cheltenham if the ground is okay for him. I would not want it on the soft side of soft.
“He just about got away with the ground at Haydock and it was never our intention to run him before the spring really. But he is grand at the moment and I would like to run him if I can.”
