Fingal Bay on the drift after injury scare

FINGAL BAY hit a high of 20 (19-1) for the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle on Betfair on Thursday night after trainer Philip Hobbs revealed the unbeaten hurdler had met with a setback and is not certain to run at the Cheltenham Festival.

The five-time winner, who was 7-2 favourite with Coral for the March 14 race, has injured his near-hind hamstring.

Hobbs told racingpost.com: "I'm not sure at this stage if this will prevent him from running at the festival. We'll monitor the situation and will know more next week."

Fingal Bay has posted a string of impressive performances over hurdles with his most recent success coming in Newbury's Grade 1 Challow Hurdle in January at odds of 1-4.

News of Fingal Bay's setback resulted in bookmakers having a re-jig of their betting for the Neptune.

Fingal Bay can now be backed at a high of 5-1 with Bet365, who make Boston Bob and Simonsig their 4-1 joint-favourites.

Boylesports and BetVictor have left Fingal Bay as 4-1 market leader despite the injury scare.

At 8am on Friday, Fingal Bay's price has steadied at 12 (11-1) on Betfair.