Paul Nicholls suffers setback as Gold Cup hopeful Topofthegame ruled out for season with tendon injury
- He will miss another season after the recurrence of a tendon problem
- The 2019 RSA Chase winner at Cheltenham has already missed last season
- Nicholls had hoped to bring him back in this month’s Ladbrokes Trophy
Ante-post favourite Topofthegame is out of the Ladbrokes Trophy Chase at Newbury on November 28 and will miss another season after the recurrence of a tendon problem.
The 2019 RSA Chase winner at Cheltenham has already missed last season.
Topofthegame has been ruled out for the rest of the season by trainer Paul Nicholls
Trainer Paul Nicholls said: ‘The warning lights have been flashing for the last couple of weeks.
‘He had the tendon injury and he is still not strong enough to do full training. If we had carried on he would have broken down.’
Nicholls-trained Saint Sonnet — a winner at Catterick last season before finishing seventh to Samcro in the Marsh Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival — is the 4-1 favourite for the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday.