Ante-post favourite Advertise and his old rival Ten Sovereigns will both miss the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock on Saturday.
Martyn Meade's Advertise beat Ten Sovereigns into fourth place when landing the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in June, before Aidan O'Brien's charge emphatically turned the tables in the July Cup at Newmarket.
However, Ten Sovereigns has since disappointed in the Nunthorpe at York, whereas Advertise claimed his third top-level success in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville last month.
The pair were set for another clash at the Merseyside track, but neither will be attendance - with Advertise officially withdrawn after returning a dirty scope on Friday morning.
Impressive! Fourth to Advertise in the Prix Maurice de Gheest, Spinning Memories quickens very well and scoots to glory at @fgdeauville under @CSoumillon... pic.twitter.com/wS2xDMi8fA
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 25, 2019
Meade said: "Advertise returned a bad scope this morning and we had no alternative but to withdraw him.
"It's not serious and he should be fine in a week, but we can't take any chances."
Advertise is now likely to head straight to the Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot on 19 October.
"I'd imagine that will be the plan now," Meade added.
"It's disappointing he can't run at Haydock, but there's nothing we can do about it - that's horses for you."
O'Brien revealed earlier this week that Ten Sovereigns would not line up at Haydock if soft ground prevailed and the Ballydoyle handler confirmed his non-participation.
The No Nay Never colt is now set to be prepared for a trip to Australia later in the year.
"We didn't want to run him on soft ground. We were hoping it wouldn't be, but they got more rain there today," said O'Brien.
"He'll probably go into quarantine now for Australia."
