Imperial Commander out of Cheltenham Gold Cup

Imperial Commander, the winner in 2010, will miss this month's Cheltenham Gold Cup because of a lung infection, the horse's trainer, Nigel Twiston-Davies, said Tuesday. Three years ago, Imperial Commander beat both Denman and Kauto Star, two of the best National Hunt horses of their generation, to win the Gold Cup -- one of British jump racing's premier events -- at Cheltenham in southwest England. Having pulled up with a broken blood vessel the following year, he missed a whole season but returned at Cheltenham in January when only narrowly defeated by Cape Tribulation in the Argento Chase. Twiston-Davies was confident the now 12-year-old Imperial Commander was closing in on his Gold Cup-winning form but illness will deny him a run when this year's edition takes place on March 15, the final day of the four-day Cheltenham Festival. "He's got a lung infection so he won't be going to Cheltenham, that's that," Twiston-Davies told the BBC. From : AFP