Sprinter Sacre will not line up at Cheltenham to defend his Queen Mother Champion Chase title at the Festival in March 2014 after failing to show he was back to his best in a piece of training work over the weekend.
Nicky Henderson's stable star was pulled up in his last race at Kempton over Christmas and was found to be suffering from an irregular heartbeat. His appearance at the Festival was always uncertain after that and Henderson decided it would not be fair to ask Sprinter Sacre to compete.
Sprinter Sacre will miss the rest of the season and his connections are looking to the Tingle Creek at Sandown in December.
