The 2018 Champion Native River has been ruled out of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Colin Tizzard trained 10-year-old won't be back to try and regain his crown from Willie Mullins' Al Boum Photo as he's picked up a season-ending injury.
The yard's assistant trainer Joe Tizzard confirmed the news on Wednesday morning saying "unfortunately we have had to scratch Native River from the Gold Cup this morning. He has picked up a suspensory tendon injury that means this season is over for him."
BREAKING: Native River has been scratched from the Cheltenham Gold Cup ❌🏆
"He has picked up a suspensory tendon injury that means this season is over for him.” pic.twitter.com/Wg89sFvEwW
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) February 19, 2020
Native River won the flagship race at Prestbury Park two years ago with Richard Johnson on board by holding off the challenge of Might Bite in a thriller.
His season was going well so far in terms of preparation for the festival with wins at Newbury and Aintree either side of Christmas.
The Tizzard's best Gold Cup contender now is Betfair Chase winner Lostintranslation.
Colin Tizzard spoke about the eight-year-old recently and was confident in how he was gearing up for the March 13th showdown.
"He's doing well at the moment.
"I don't think we can rush to run him [for a prep race] so it'll be better to give him a racecourse gallop somewhere in the middle of February and then on to the Gold Cup.
"We're hoping he'll go to Cheltenham nice and fresh."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
