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Willie Mullins' leading Ryanair Chase fancy Allaho has been ruled out of the Cheltenham Festival in March after suffering a setback.
The Willie Mullins-trained ten-year-old was bidding for a third success in the two-and-a-half-mile Grade 1 prize at Prestbury Park but will have to miss his intended engagement in March after sustaining a 'strained hock'.
Allaho headed the 2024 Ryanair market on the back of his facile thirteen-length success over stablemate Stattler in the Grade 2 Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase at Thurles on Sunday but returned lame afterwards.
Chris Richardson, Cheveley Park's managing director, told the Racing Post: "Allaho was found to be lame after his win at Thurles, which has been diagnosed as a strained hock. The advice is that he will need a period of rest and recuperation, which very sadly means he will miss the Cheltenham Festival. We hope that he might be back for Punchestown in April, but investigations are ongoing.
"It's frustrating having seen him run so well at Thurles and rekindle hope after his previous run in the King George. Back over his favoured two and a half miles got us all excited but he's still going to be a major force going forward and we've just got to be patient."
