Quito De La Roque is the latest big name to be ruled out of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday, hours after Jessies Dream was.
The former, a general second-favourite with the bookmakers behind Quel Esprit, had last been seen finishing third to Synchronised in the Lexus Chase over Christmas.
His trainer Colm Murphy said: "He definitely won't run, he scoped badly. It's just a little hiccup really, we weren't 100 per cent happy with him when he was ridden this afternoon, so we had him scoped to see what the problem was and he has a bit of mucus in him.
"I'm not sure what we will do now, I'll speak to Michael and Eddie (O'Leary, of owners Gigginstown House Stud) - this was Plan A so I'm not sure what Plan B will be."
