Thistlecrack Deprived of Gold Cup run, Ruled out of Festival

The Cheltenham Festival was dealt another blow as the Ante-Post Gold Cup favourite Thistlecrack has been ruled out of the race through a tendon injury. Such a blow is another big disappointment for punters with many only just coming to grips with the absence of Annie Power, Faugheen and Min from their scheduled dates with destiny. The injury in question doesn't seem anything fatal for Colin Tizzard's horse but enough to rule out any further engagements this season. If one is to shine on any positive from this piece of news (which there isn't many) is that the Gold Cup picture now has a very open and competitive feel to it. As devastated as Tizzard no doubt feels through the absence of his prize jewel, he still saddles two in the race, the two current favourites to boot. Native River looks the more taking of that pair but the value still lies in the Irish ranks for the Festival Showpiece. This news will be welcome news to Willie Mullins, who himself has encountered no luck with his own horses in the last few weeks. Mullins will be looking to saddle Djakadam, twice runner up of this contest, in 2015 to Coneygree and 2016 to Don Cossack. I sense that if these two efforts had been produced by an English Horse his price and reputation for this year would be higher, yet he's gone relatively under the radar and I sense another massive run in the offing. Again the English might counter this with there lovechild Cue Card and I do recognise he holds every chance but the people who are building that off his Saturday win are the ill-informed. I don't care the distance, it was one of the weakest Grade One races I think I've ever seen, lets get realistic hear England!! For me, Djakadam is sailing far too unnoticed and Im backing him to go one better this year, lets keep our fingers crossed.

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