It is the season of the death by a thousand cuts, with an extraordinary number of bigtime horses sidelined by injury or an even more horrible and terminal fate. There has been a cluster of tendon injuries and the gee-gee grim reaper has also been enthusiastic about his merciless work.

There hasn't been as much uncertainty in the Cheltenham ante-post market since an infected flock of sheep at the course caused the cancellation of the whole festival five years ago, and this time the bookies are laughing all the way to the bank.

Which is precisely why this year's jumping season seems a little out of joint. The betting lists for the top championship races are worryingly populated by B-list equine celebrities, and if it continues like this Cheltenham this year will be like one of those parties when none of the fun crowd turn up.

This week another straw was added to the Cotswold camel's back when Harchibald failed to recover from an operation to remove some birch from a tendon and his absence from the Champion Hurdle was confirmed by trainer Noel Meade.

His loss to the festival is immense. There have been few more thrilling sights in racing over the last couple of years than Paul Carberry steering him towards the last flight, backside high in the air, with nobody really knowing what was going to happen next. His narrow failure to overhaul Hardy Eustace last year was the most dramatic and talked-about race for years.

Thankfully, plenty of Irish interest survives in the Champion Hurdle, with Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca still hale and hearty, although there remains a slight concern over this year's new star Feathard Lady. They won't be joined at the start by that other old warrior, Rooster Booster, who like Best Mate succumbed to heart failure just before Christmas.

One of the more dominant attractions of jump racing is the perennial and repeating rivalries generated by the yearly return of old soldiers to the battlefield to settle old scores. That is why injuries to the likes of Harchibald are so keenly felt. Rematches imbue the season with a sense of rhythm and a continuity that is largely absent from flat racing. Most of last summer's stars, like Shamardal, Motivator and Dubai Millennium are gone forever from the track and will be soon forgotten, while the familiar winter warriors continue to grow in our affection.

The Gold Cup, which was already weakened by the absence of the likes of Rule Supreme and Trabolgan was truly decimated when Kicking King picked up his tendon injury. The contest is now wide open, and most of the 64 expensively-entered hopefuls are at best nothing more than promising novice chasers or half-decent handicappers.

Beef Or Salmon is the only seasoned Grade One performer in the field, and the best of his three efforts in the race to date was a lukewarm fourth two years ago.

The injury to Kicking King may have more unfortunate longer-term consequences for the sport. It emphasises just how hard it is for horses to win and then retain chasing's premier trophy. Seven horses in the last thirty years have won the Gold Cup at the age of seven, but only one has successfully retained the crown. Royal Frolic, Davy Lad, Midnight Court, Little Owl, Imperial Call and Kicking King all looked like legends in the making but never progressed to win more than once . . . at least not yet. Best Mate is the only repeat winner in that time and his trainer, Henrietta Knight, may soon be vindicated in her belief that the only way to keep a horse sound is to wrap it in cotton wool and confine it to barracks. If the deluge of injuries this year were to persuade trainers of good horses to adopt equivalent strategies it would massively detract from the sports' appeal.

Unsurprisingly, Knight has leapt mouth first into an argument on the nature of the injury crisis and even if her beloved chaser is no longer with us, her eccentricity remains intact. Her view that running horses at racecourses is inherently dangerous and to be avoided at all costs seems to have deepened since the death of Best Mate. Every square foot of the course is now studiously examined before she runs a horse and if there is even the slightest suggestion of a false or dangerous piece of ground she will not run a horse.

Her latest star, Racing Demon, has been touring the motorways and racecourses of England in a horse box recently without ever suffering the indignity of running in a horse race. Knight is convinced that badly prepared ground is instrumental in causing the spate of tendon injuries, and has been withdrawing the horse at the last minute on the grounds that "It takes five minutes to ruin a horse and years to get one up the ladder."

Racecourse staff are not amused by her allegations and spokesperson Caroline Davies described her comments as "offensive to a group of highly professional people".

Like the Gold Cup, the Queen Mother Champion Chase has also been a disaster for ante-post punters.

Although Moscow Flyer is still on course for the race, both of last year's immediate victims, Azertyuiop and Well Chief are sidelined with, believe it or not, tendon injuries along with the other most prominent Irish challenger, Rathgar Beau.

Moscow is now firmly at the veteran stage and has had a disappointing season, but the Jessica Harrington string has been woefully out of form.

The victory of Studmaster for the stable in the Pierse Hurdle last Sunday has renewed some faith, and it looks like the only threat left standing, at this stage, is Kauto Star.

The festival's other championship race, The World (Stayers') Hurdle, also recently lost its favourite and reigning champion, Inglis Drever, to a tendon injury and there is huge concern as to whether this year has seen a series of freak events or the beginning of some structural problem in racing. A spokesman for the British Jockey Club, Paul Struthers, is adamant that the injuries are little more than an unfortunate statistical blip. "A small number of high-profile horses at short prices in the ante-post markets have suffered injuries in a short time. If they had not had such a high profile, no one would be talking about them."

Struthers' unsympathetic analysis may well be true, and whatever horses win the big races will remain listed in the record books long after the absentees are forgotten.

As Oscar Wilde might have put it, "I always like to know everything about my new friends and nothing about my old ones".