Meade stars still on sidelines
Nicanor, the only horse to have beaten Denman to date, has had his novice chase career put on hold after Noel Meade spotted a minor injury.
The 2006 Royal & SunAlliance Novice Hurdle winner was due to make his debut over fences last weekend but was pulled out on the morning of the race.
Meade has since discovered a small stress fracture in one of his shins meaning the seven-year-old may remain over hurdles this term, if he runs at all.
“A sore shin ruled Nicanor out of Leopardstown and we have discovered that he has a tiny stress fracture in the middle of the shin,” said Meade.
“It could heal in three to four weeks, but it might take a bit longer and the likelihood is that he won’t go over fences this season. If he does run, it will probably be in a hurdle race.”
Meade has also had a setback with Aran Concerto who was sent off the 5-2 favourite for the same Cheltenham Festival event that Nicanor won last season but he could only finish fifth, he has not run since.
“We are still behind schedule with Aran Concerto and have had to take things slowly with him in recent days,” Meade told the Racing Post.
“We will see how he is going early next month and if I feel that it will be more beneficial to wait until next season before starting him over fences then that is what will happen.”
