Fountains Windfall will head to Warwick on Saturday instead of taking up his entry in the Betfair Denman Chase at Newbury.
Anthony Honeyball's charge made a big impression on his chasing debut at Southwell in November, but fell when in contention for a Grade Two at Newbury on his next start and looked in control of the Kauto Star Novices' Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day when crashing out again four fences from the finish.
Fountains Windfall bounced back with a facile victory in handicap company at Kempton last month and Honeyball admits he was tempted to let him take on last season's Cheltenham Gold Cup third Native River, among others, in Berkshire this weekend.
However, he will instead take the easier option in the Wise Betting At racinguk.com Novices' Chase at Warwick en route to the RSA Chase at next month's Cheltenham Festival.
Honeyball said: "I k now it's a boring decision, but I it just didn't feel right to run at Newbury.
"First of all he'll be staying against novices and you would hope he won't have quite as hard a race at Warwick as he might have done at Newbury.
"The other thing was jockey bookings. Aidan Coleman is going to Warwick to ride in the Kingmaker (Novices' Chase) and I don't really want to split them up at this stage. I think they need a bit more mileage together.
"It's a bit of a shame in some ways, but we think it's the right decision.
"Hopefully he'll go to Warwick and put in a clear round again and we'll head on to the RSA."