‘We don’t have a choice’ – Punters fear the worst as trainer reveals huge Cheltenham favourite could miss Festival

CANNY Irish trainer Charles Byrnes has revealed big Cheltenham favourite Blazing Khal could miss the Festival.

The seven-year-old is current 11-4 favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle next Thursday.

PA

Byrnes stable star is fav for the Stayers’ but needs to get through a crucial piece of work on Friday to make it to Cheltenham[/caption]

Blazing Khal is unbeaten in his last five races and has turned into a money-making machine with earnings of almost £90,000.

But he suffered a cut in his most recent win in the Boyne Hurdle after 428 days off.

Byrnes said the horse has been on antibiotics since and his participation at Cheltenham will hinge on a key piece of work this Friday.

The trainer said: “Unfortunately he got a bad cut in his Boyne Hurdle win and he was on antibiotics after.

“We couldn’t do much with him since and we’re after stepping his work up now in the last week.

“We gave him a small bit of work at the Curragh this morning.

“It’s gone late in the day now so we’ll see how he works on Friday and make a final decision.”

Blazing Khal has already won two Grade 2s at Cheltenham outside the Festival over 2m5f and 3m.

But he is entered in a red-hot renewal this year, which could feature Nicky Henderson’s Marie’s Rock.

She is 9-2, while Hatton’s Grace winner Teahupoo is 4-1 and last year’s defending champion Flooring Porter is 6-1.

Byrnes declined to be drawn on the chances of his horse making it to the Festival.

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But he said he had no choice but to leave the key piece of work until so late.

He said: “I can’t say if it’s 50-50 or not as it will just all depend on how he is later in the week.

“We are hoping his work this morning will bring him on a nice bit and we’ll go back again on Friday.

“I know it’s very late now but we don’t have a choice. He means a lot to us as he’s a family horse and we’ll do our utmost to get him there but we’ll just have to see.

“We’re just very grateful the cut has healed up as we were very worried that the infection got into the joint.”

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