Galopin Des Champs tops a final field of 13 for Saturday's Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup Chase after Haiti Couleurs wasn't declared.
Connections of the Irish and Welsh Grand National hero had been considering a major pre-Cheltenham clash with the Irish staying stars but his name didn't appear among the 48-hour declarations on Thursday, the Denman Chase at Newbury next weekend to be his final prep run before a shot at the Gold Cup in March.
Haiti Couleurs' trainer Rebecca Curtis told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "Obviously our main aim for him in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March and this was only ever a prep run. As it turned out there were just too many negatives, they'd cancelled both local ferries to take horses - Fishguard and Pembroke - and it would have been such a long journey getting him up to Holyhead and Dublin, he'd have been in the box 13 hours.
"Obviously on that ground, it was under water, we don't know how testing that's going to be. And at the end of last week he'd just come off a very small course of antibiotics for a small sinus he had, which isn't an issue at all, the horse is A1, so with all these things adding up we just thought is that the best route now?
"We're going to run him now next Saturday at Newbury, it just seemed the right thing to do for the horse. He's in great form and there are no issues with him."
A total of 13 horses have stood their ground for Leopardstown's Saturday feature, with three-time Irish Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs heading an eight-strong team for champion trainer Willie Mullins.
Paul Townend rides the popular 10-year-old Galopin Des Champs, Paddy Power's 6/4 market leader, while Mullins is also responsible for Champ Kiely, Fact To File, Gaelic Warrior, Grangeclare West, I Am Maximus, Lecky Watson and the prolific mare Spindleberry.
Noel Meade's Affordale Fury was a well-backed winner of the Savills Chase over the same course and distance at the big Christmas meeting and he lines up, along with the Gordon Elliott-trained pair of Firefox and Stellar Story.
Henry De Bromhead relies on Monty's Star, with 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin in the mix for resurgent trainer Gavin Cromwell.
Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup
Paddy Power: 6/4 Galopin Des Champs, 5/1 Fact To File, 7/1 Gaelic Warrior, Spindleberry, 8/1 Affordale Fury, 10/1 Inothewayurthinkin, 14/1 I Am Maximus, 20 Grangeclare West, 33 Monty’s Star, Stellar Story, 40 Champ Kiely, 50 Lecky Watson, 66 Firefox.
No Kopek in three-runner Arkle
The other notable omission from the final fields was Kopek Des Bordes, who had been a possible contender for the Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase over two miles and one furlong.
Only three have been declared for the race, Elliott's Romeo Coolio facing off with Mullins-trained mare Kargese and Henry De Bromhead's Downmexicoway.
The Grade 1 action kicks off with the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle, in which Doctor Steinberg and Love Me Tender represent Mullins.
Elliott has four in the final field, namely Jalon d'Oudairies, Kazansky, Riskaway and Santo Sospir, with Declan Queally running Tackletommywoowoo. Frankie John (Denis Hogan) and Yeshil (Henry De Bromhead) complete the nine runners in the opening race, due off at 13:15.
Narciso Has and Mange Tout clash again in the Gannon's City Recovery & Recycling Services Juvenile Hurdle, while Staffordshire Knot tops the weights for the three-mile Race And Stay At Leopardstown Handicap Hurdle.
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