Cheltenham Festival 2017 – Thistlecrack, Faugheen, Annie Power, Vautour, Don Cossack and Coneygree among the stars missing this year’s Festival

THE list of horses missing the Cheltenham Festival just keeps building. 

In an astonishing year where contenders have been dropping like flies, we are left with what looks like very open Championship races.

Here are a few of those missing from Prestbury Park this year.

FAUGHEEN (Champion Hurdle)

A stress fracture rules Faugheen trying to repeat his Champion Hurdle success of 2015 after several niggly problems had kept him off the track since he won the Irish equivalent in January 2016.

ANNIE POWER (Champion Hurdle)

Last year's Champion Hurdle heroine suffered a leg injury forcing trainer Willie Mullins to scrap plans for the defence of her crown, and perhaps the rest of the campaign.

MIN (Arkle Trophy)

A bruise is extremely minor, but this one has come at the wrong time for Min. His proposed rematch with Altior, who beat him in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle, is now off the agenda.

THISTLECRACK (Gold Cup)

Favourite for the Gold Cup from a pretty early stage this season, Thistlecrack won each of his three novice starts before graduating to full company with a scintillating success in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. He suffered a defeat to the ill-fated Many Clouds on his final prep run at Cheltenham last month, but a tendon problem has derailed his Gold Cup bid.

VAUTOUR (Gold Cup)

Despite winning the 2014 Supreme Novices' Hurdle, the 2015 JLT Novices' Chase and the 2016 Ryanair Chase at the Festival, Willie Mullins' superstar might even had his best years ahead of him. Tragically, a freak accident in November last year saw him break a leg, meaning we will never know just what he could have achieved.

DON COSSACK (Gold Cup)

Gordon Elliott had to call time on Don Cossack's career last month after the 2016 Gold Cup hero sustained a recurrence of a tendon injury when back in training with a view to a bid for a repeat triumph.

CONEYGREE (Gold Cup)

Mark and Sara Bradstock decided not to enter Coneygree for this year's Gold Cup as the 2015 winner had not recovered sufficiently from the problem that ruled him out of the King George.

SPRINTER SACRE (Champion Chase)

The tip-top chaser was retired after picking up a leg injury in November. He suffered an irregular heartbeat at the end of 2013 that kept him on the sidelines for well over a year, yet Nicky Henderson and his team had worked wonders to get the 2013 winner to win the showpiece again in 2016.

VALSEUR LIDO (Ryanair/Gold Cup)

Henry de Bromhead's chaser made quite an impression in winning a Down Royal Grade One by 11 lengths on his seasonal bow, but he could miss the rest of the season after sustaining an injury on the gallops last month.

AR MAD (Champion Chase/Ryanair)

Gary Moore decided not to rush Ar Mad back into action at the Festival, where he had a couple of options, after a setback forced the seven-year-old to bypass the Betfair Ascot Chase. He now has Aintree or Punchestown on his agenda.