Mille Chief has been ruled out of the Triumph Hurdle.
Alan King's juvenile, who had been a general 6-1 shot for the race, missed an engagement at Kempton last weekend after found to be "hopping lame".
King had hoped there was a small chance he could still make the Festival, but he told his website, www.alankingracing.co.uk: "Mille Chief is getting better and we can see improvement, but we have basically run out of time to make the Triumph."
He added: "You can't go half-cocked to Cheltenham - even 90% is not good enough. But I remain very hopeful that we will be able to get him ready in time for Aintree and Punchestown.
"Mille Chief is a very good horse and I still have a lot of faith in him and I am not prepared to take any risks and feel it best we make an early decision so as to keep the betting public fully informed.
"He'll miss Cheltenham and we'll monitor the situation, 'd be optomistic we would make Liverpool."
