Racing: The Howard Johnson-trained seven-year-old Inglis Drever has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a tendon injury.
Drever was on course to bid for back-to-back wins in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, but will not now be seen until the autumn. "He is out as he has injured a tendon," said owner Graham Wylie.
"He seemed fine at the weekend apart from a little bit of swelling on his leg, which we thought was nothing more than bruising and it would go down.
"We had him scanned this morning and there is a hole in his tendon, so we will have to get him sorted out.
"If we had ignored it and carried on it might have made it worse, so we have done what is best for the horse and hopefully he will be back for next season."
Wylie's No Refuge had already been prominent in the betting for the Cheltenham stayers' contest and the Royal & SunAlliance Hurdle winner is now poised to take over the mantle from his stablemate.
"No Refuge would have to come into the picture now," added Wylie. "We have always wanted to try him at three miles and he was always there in case something happened to `Drever', so we'll see how he goes."
County Durham-based Johnson told Racing UK: "He had that fall at Chepstow and he was sound enough when he came home, but he had been lame at the track.
"We nursed him for a week and he did a little bit of swimming. Yesterday I gave him a walk out and a jog and I just wasn't 110 per cent happy, so I called the vet in this morning.
"He scanned him and behind the knee there is a black hole, which tells you enough is enough for the season."