Sussex trainer Gary Moore is hoping for one last hurrah from stable star Sire De Grugy at the Cheltenham Festival next week after a wretched run of injuries affecting his horses and racing family.

Sire De Grugy heads for jump racing's showpiece meeting as the leading contender from Moore's Cisswood yard in Lower Beeding, near Horsham.

Piloted by one of Moore's sons, Jamie, the French-bred ten-year-old will be trying to land Wednesday's Queen Mother Champion Chase for the second time in three years.

Sire De Grugy was not meant to be Moore's best chance of entering the winners' enclosure again at Cheltenham.

A sequence of terrible human and equine misfortune began with another of his sons, three-time champion jockey Ryan Moore, missing two-and-a-half-months of the flat season last summer with a neck injury sustained when a horse he was riding at Newmarket reared up and became trapped in the starting stalls.

In November, Moore himself was in intensive care with broken ribs, a punctured lung and bruised spleen after one of his horses kicked him in the back.

He is now fully recovered, which is sadly not the case for three others he had high hopes for at Cheltenham.

Exciting novice chasers Ar Mad and Violet Dancer have both been ruled out of the Racing Post Arkle by leg injuries.

Champion Chase contender Traffic Fluide also met with a season-ending setback after finishing just behind stablemate Sire De Grugy in his prep race at Ascot.

Injury has ruled Faugheen, from the all-powerful yard of Irishman Willie Mullins, out of his defence of the Champion Hudle. Moore's double-loss of Ar Mad in particular and Traffic Fluide is a lot worse.

Speaking exclusively to The Argus, he said: "It's as disappointing as it can get. If you compared it to a football team, it's like having Messi and Suarez playing out of their skins and then you lose them for the rest of the season.

"It's a massive loss to a yard of our size. Willie Mullins mentioned when he lost Faugheen that he's got loads of good substitutes. I haven't.

"They have both received their treatment and will hopefully be back as good as ever next year."

 

It will also require a recovery, albeit on a smaller scale, for Sire De Grugy to recapture his Champion Chase crown after storming up the Cheltenham hill in 2014 to give Moore the most significant prize of his training career.

A hip injury disrupted his preparations last year, when he finished fourth behind Dodging Bullets.

The best-priced 14-1 shot could wear blinkers for the first time in a bid to sharpen him up and reverse form with Mullins' odds-on favourite Un de Sceaux, who beat him and the ill-fated Traffic Fluide comfortably last time out in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

Moore said: "It's probably his last chance of competing at this level. We've done everything we can to get him as good as we can.

"He seems as good as ever. Whether he is good enough we won't know until the day, but if you aren't in them you can't win them.

"We go there with a fighting chance. It's going to be tough, but at least they've had plenty of rain down there. Hopefully it won't dry out too much."

Sire De Grudgy's triumph two years ago has left an indelible mark on the self-deprecating Moore and his neighbourhood.

"It was one of the highlights of my training career," he said. "There's not many anyway. I've got an art gallery of pictures from that day in my house and the pub down the road."

Even if Sire De Grugy misses out, the locals could still be toasting a Cheltenham winner for Moore.

He has four other runners at the four-day Festival, including Flute Bowl in the Mares' Hurdle on the opening day on Tuesday.

"We felt she deserved her chance," said Moore. She's off to stud quite soon after. We've supplemented her for £5,000, which is a lot of money.

"She was a listed winner the other day, which has improved her value. She is in good order and the owner was keen to supplement her."

Handicap hurdlers Baron Alco and Ubak are both entered in Wednesday's fiercely competitive Coral Cup.

Moore said: "They are not just social runners, they are horses with reasonable chances. Baron Alco hasn't run a bad race all year and he has a nice weight if he gets in, which is not guaranteed.

"Ubak goes there in good form as well. The extra two furlongs will suit him better than when he ran at Fontwell. They will hopefully both give good accounts of themselves."

Moore has no runners on Thursday. La Paimpolaise, entered for the Mares' Novice Hurdle, runs instead at Taunton on Monday.

The best could be left to last, Chris Pea Green in the closing Grand Annual Chase on Friday.

Moore said: "He had a fall first time out this year at Fontwell and fractured his hock, which put him back a bit. He ran a nice race the other day to finish third at Sandown, which was encouraging first time back, and he has galloped very well since, so I'm hopeful of him having a big chance.

"He ran well in the race last year before falling. He has a bit more experience this year. I fancy him to run a big race."