The stop-start season for Altior continues as trainer Nicky Henderson ruled him out of his weekend engagement.
Cheltenham's dual Champion Chase hero was due to run over 2m 4f in a Grade Two sponsored by Unibet, the bookmakers who publish the Seven Barrows blog.
Before the plan was scrapped on Tuesday and announced via social media, Altior was a big drifter in the market for the chase, named after Silviniaco Conti for the first time.
Henderson said: "Unfortunately Altior will now not take his chance in the Unibet Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton at the weekend because we do not feel he looks his absolute best and despite working well on Saturday he is still not 100 per cent compared to previous years and he could still be feeling the side effects of the antibiotics he was given to treat the abscess on his wither.
"Altior owes us nothing at all so our one and only priority is his wellbeing so it would be unkind to run him if he isn’t at his brilliant best.
"I would like to add that his blood test yesterday was perfect and he is very well within himself but this is a case of instinct, and our instinct tells us that he just doesn’t look as good as he can do.
"He will be given 10 days on the ‘easy list’ and spend some time on the water treadmill.
"We’ll throw everything at him to get him right so we’ll tuck him up and give him the very best.
"He’s fit so it’s just a case of ticking him over.
"The plan is for him run in the Game Spirit at Newbury and he will be given one entry at Cheltenham which will be in the Queen Mother Champion Chase."
Back in November, Altior's 19-race unbeaten run was brought to a juddering halt by Britain's highest-rated chaser Cyrname at his beloved Ascot.
Henderson's four-time Festival winner has not run since, suffering an abscess over Christmas.
A positive update was issued several days ago, with Nico de Boinville reportedly happy with his work and a schooling session was planned.
Bookmakers Betfair and Paddy Power voided bets on Altior, while there was support for his stablemate Top Notch, the winner 12 months ago.
