Thistlecrack will undergo another scan on his season-ending torn tendon on Tuesday, Colin Tizzard has confirmed.
The Sherbourne trainer was left “gutted” when the nine-year-old, who made a successful transition to fences from the staying hurdle division with a win in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, saw his Gold Cup hopes at next month’s Festival dashed by the injury.
Thistlecrack was defeated by Many Clouds in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January, but following the latter’s sad death after the race, he was strongly fancied to secure Gold Cup honours at Cheltenham.
However, Tizzard revealed a week ago that Thistlecrack will not feature because of a slight tendon tear and he is now having treatment to try and get him back ready for the new season.
He said: “After 36 hours of feeling gutted, I thought ‘we better move on from this’. It won’t be the last one, but we found it early and that’s the main thing.
“We are going to scan him again on Tuesday. There was a little tear there, but there is no heat or swelling there now.
“We just want to check again, just to please ourselves really. It is not like he is walking around with his leg in a bandage.”
