Kopek Des Bordes will be geared up for a crack at the Arkle at Cheltenham having been forced to skip the Irish version at the Dublin Racing Festival this weekend.
Willie Mullins' star six-year-old, owned by Monabeg Investment Limited, had been in line for a return to action in Saturday's Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase at Leopardstown, having not been seen since a chasing debut win at Navan in November, but he wasn't declared on Thursday morning.
The horse is reported to be in good physical condition, with all roads leading to Cheltenham for the son of No Risk At All.
"He's perfect, he's working very well, but Willie rang me this morning and said he just wasn't happy for him to take his place this weekend," owner Charlie McCarthy told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast.
"All along I firmly believed the horse would have made Saturday's race. It's a disappointment, but all I can say is that I prefer to have a horse than not to have a horse, and I've always respected Willie's wishes. It's what he's decided to do and that's what we've got to go along with."
Referring to the setback that forced Kopek Des Bordes to also miss a potential engagement at Leopardstown over Christmas, he said: "He had a floating chip removed which set him back about two weeks - we were playing catch-up.
"I asked him (Mullins) what was plan-B and said 'straight to Cheltenham'. The only thing then is that he'll go to Cheltenham, he'll go to Aintree and he'll go to Punchestown. To be fair, I have a wonderful horse, a horse we love, I'm sorry for his followers that he's not going on Saturday - we're broken-hearted - but we still have Kopek and that's the most important thing for everybody."
Kopek Des Bordes was consequently eased to 4/1 by Sky Bet and Paddy Power for the Singer Capital Markets Arkle Novices' Chase, in a market topped by Nicky Henderson's Lulamba who was trimmed to 13/8 favourite.
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