Michael Scudamore has reluctantly admitted that Monbeg Dude will not be fit enough to race in this year's Crabbie's Grand National.
The 11-year-old finished third in the world's greatest steeplechase last year but picked up a tendon injury as Many Clouds went on to score.
It has taken a long time to heal and it was always going to be touch-and-go as to whether the son of Witness Box would be ready to return for another crack at Aintree glory.
Initial thoughts were that the horse, owned by a syndicate that includes former England rugby star Mike Tindall, would be fine but he was not among Wednesday's 126 entries and Scudamore has revealed that he will hopefully return to Liverpool in 2017.
“Time has beaten us, I'm afraid,” he said. “I had been very hopeful, but we were running out of time so decided to not even enter him and pull stumps for this season.
“Aintree will hopefully be the aim again next season, I know he'll be 12 by then but horses that age have won it before.
“There'll be lots of nice races for him to go for along the way, including the Welsh National.”
