CONEYGREE will miss this year’s Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup as he continues to recover from injury.

Winner of the 2015 race as a novice but ruled out of last year’s running, the ten-year-old, trained at Letcombe Bassett, missed the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and has been restricted to just one outing this campaign, when chasing home Cue Card in the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November.

Sara Bradstock, assistant and wife of trainer Mark, said: “I’m afraid it’s (Gold Cup) not going to happen, which is a real shame.

“When you have a horse like this you must not take any risks and there is no point going there half-baked.

“He has just niggled the bone, where the cannon bone meets the knee. He is still walking at the moment, but we must not take a risk as these niggling things can turn into fractures.

“We will make sure he is fine before he comes back.

“He is in very good nick, mentally, and is full of himself.”