Leading Cheltenham Gold Cup hope Topofthegame has been ruled out for the season after suffering what his trainer Paul Nicholls has described as a minor leg injury.
Donnchadh Doyle’s Belclare winning point-to-pointer enjoyed his biggest success to date at last season’s Festival when getting the better of Santini to land the Grade 1 RSA Chase under Harry Cobden.
That success had left the seven-year-old as low as 10/1 for the blue ribbon race of the season at Prestbury Park in 2020, however he is now set to spend the season on the side lines.
“Unfortunately Topofthegame is out for the season after sustaining a minor leg injury. Whilst the problem is not serious it is enough to make us stop with him at this stage and give him plenty of time to recover,” Nicholls wrote in his Betfair Blog.
“It’s frustrating because he’d done so well over the summer and has been cantering away nicely at home ahead of a crack at the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury at the end of November.
"Hopefully he will be back in training again next season when his long term target will again be the Cheltenham Gold Cup.”
The late Willie Codd’s graduate, Lostintranslation, is now the lowest-priced former Irish point-to-pointer in the Gold Cup ante post market as a 10/1 shot having lowered the colours of Topofthegame in the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree’s Grand National fixture.
Upped in trip, Lostintranslation lands the Betway Mildmay Novices' Chase for @colintizzard and @Robbie_Power_ %uD83D%uDC4F#TheWorldIsWatching #LadiesDay pic.twitter.com/b2JwXNLBdh
— Aintree Racecourse (@AintreeRaces) April 5, 2019
