Joint-top weight Ornais was one of just four horses removed from Saturday's Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at the final declaration stage.
Trainer Paul Nicholls already has an abundance of options in the Newbury handicap he won last year with Denman - with owner Andy Stewart providing possible favourite Big Buck's and My Will, instead of Ornais.
Nicholls can also count on Munster National winner Dear Villez.
The other defections were Ferdy Murphy's New Alco - without a run yet this term - plus Irish raider Patsy Hall and the Philip Hobbs-trained Parsons Legacy.
The keenly-backed Island Flyer sneaks in at the bottom of the weights, while Knowhere and Betfair Chase winner Snoopy Loopy assume the position right at the top on 11st 12lb.
Murphy was disconsolate at having to pull New Alco out of the race after the seven-year-old suffered a setback on Wednesday.
"It looks like he's picked up some sort of stone bruise yesterday and the vet wouldn't pass him this morning, so we had to take him out," said Murphy. "It's an absolute sickener as it will only keep him off for a few days.
"We'd laid him out for this and he did his final bit of work yesterday."
Trainer Tom George could not hide his delight that Island Flyer races off his correct mark of 10st.
The Gloucestershire-based handler has also booked one of the best lightweight jockeys around - Denis O'Regan.
"It's all falling into place with him just scraping in off bottom weight," said George. "Paddy Brennan rides for me whenever he can but Denis has ridden a few winners for me and I get on very well with him - he's a very good jockey."
Local trainer Charlie Mann believes Air Force One "ticks a lot of the right boxes" for the Hennessy.
"I couldn't be more pleased - he's in good form and he came out of his Ascot race really well," said the Lambourn handler. "It was a big effort at Ascot - he normally needs his first run and comes on a lot for it - he jumped well and he is an improving horse."