Colin Tizzard has confirmed Cue Card will not run against before the Racing Post Arkle Trophy on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.
The exciting novice chaser had been entered in Friday's rescheduled Betfair Super Saturday Chase - registered as the Game Spirit Chase - but Tizzard has revealed the gelding will bypass the race to give him more time to recover from a recent knock.
"He's just got a slight knock on his fetlock joint," said Tizzard. "We thought we'd better let people know with the ante-post betting and everything.
"If the race was next week we'd be fine and there wouldn't have even been a need to mention it, but it's just going to stop him running this week.
"He'll be fine in a few days but we'll have to go straight to Cheltenham now - it was this or nothing."
The former Champion Bumper winner has won two of his four starts over fences, including the Betfred Goals Galore Novices' Chase at Newbury on New Years' Eve.