James Owen's Triumph Hurdle hope Burdett Road has met with a setback and will be forced to miss the remainder of the season.
A winner of the Golden Gates Stakes at Royal Ascot when trained by Michael Bell last season, Burdett Road made a seamless transition to the hurdling game when a wide-margin scorer at Huntingdon back in November.
The son of Muhaarar would make it two from two over hurdles with an emphatic success Grade 2 company at Cheltenham later that month and although he proved no match for Nicky Henderson's high-class prospect Sir Gino back at that venue in January, James Owen's four-year-old was as short as 10/1 (NRNB) with Paddy Power heading into the scheduled rematch.
However, in a statement released on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Hamilton Road-based trainer James Owen said: "Burdett Road has unfortunately picked up a setback and will miss the remainder of the season."
The Nicky Henderson-trained Sir Gino is now 4/6 with Paddy Power to remain unbeaten and make it four from four over hurdles in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham next month.
