Albert Bartlett ante-post favourite ruled out after minor setback in training

Betting for the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle was turned on its head on Friday after longtime ante-post favourite Blazing Khal was ruled out of the Cheltenham Festival through injury by his trainer Charles Byrnes.

Unbeaten over hurdles, Blazing Khal had already proven himself at Cheltenham in winning a pair of Grade 2s this winter and, while the injury he sustained is not thought to be serious, it is enough to rule him out of the festival.

Instead, Byrnes will try to redirect his exciting staying novice to the Punchestown festival.

Speaking on Friday afternoon, Byrnes said: "It's not the injury sustained serious but we need to give him a couple of weeks off."

Charles Byrnes: 'We'll try to get him ready for Punchestown now instead'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

He added: "After that, he'd need a couple of easy weeks so it would have been a rush to make Cheltenham. We'll try to get him ready for Punchestown now instead."

Blazing Khal has had a faultless campaign with three wins from three starts over hurdles, most recently in the Grade 2 Bristol Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham last month. His four-and-a-quarter-length win over Gelino Bello, who he had also beaten at the same track in November, had propelled him to Albert Bartlett favouritism and he was as short as 4-1 with bookmakers for that festival race.

However, following the news of his setback, Gordon Elliott's Grade 1-winning novice Ginto usurped Byrnes' stable star at the head of the betting for the Albert Bartlett Novice' Hurdle and is the new 4-1 favourite with most firms.

Hollow Games, who like Ginto is trained by Elliott and runs in the colours of Bective Stud, is 7-1 for the Albert Bartlett, with the Henry de Bromhead-trained Journey With Me a point shorter in an Irish-dominated market.

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