Nicky Henderson has ruled Grandouet out of the 2012 Champion Hurdle at next month’s Cheltenham Festival.
The superstar underwent a successful operation on Tuesday night and after missing the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton on Saturday he will now miss a trip to Prestbury Park.
Henderson explained: "We've had a long discussion with the vets and his owner, Simon Munir. The horse has made further progress this morning, but we feel it is unrealistic to expect him to be able to work this weekend.
"This would undoubtedly be a very interrupted preparation, so we have decided that in everybody's interest it is better to decide now that he will not run in the Champion Hurdle."
"You can't go into a race of this calibre with such an interrupted preparation. It's only fair to the horse, the owner and the betting public that we make this unwelcome decision.
"I think it's best to make this decision now and all grey is taken out of the situation. As to whether he will run again this season, we will see.
"He's an out-and-out two-miler so therefore Aintree isn't a realistic option, but we will discuss that at a later date. Three weeks ago we were sitting on Grandouet, Spirit Son and Binocular, and three have suddenly become one."