Mighty Man, one of Shropshire’s leading fancies for this year’s Cheltenham Festival, has suffered a cruel season-ending injury.

The stable star of Henry Daly had looked to be a leading contender for the RSA Chase after impressive victories at Hereford last month and Huntingdon on Wednesday in novice chases.

But Mighty Man suffered a tiny nick at Huntingdon, and a trip to the vets yesterday revealed the grim news which will rule him out of the showpiece of National Hunt racing in March.

“He fractured his sesamoid and was operated on yesterday afternoon,” Daly confirmed.

“He had a tiny little nick after the Huntingdon race but we just felt it yesterday so we put him in a box, took him off to the vets and they called me back with the news.

“The vet seems confident that it is certainly not life-threatening or even career-threatening.

“The only problem is he’s already 10 years old.”

This latest setback represents the second major injury of Mighty Man’s career as he was also sidelined for almost two years after suffering a tendon problem at Punchestown in 2007.

A top-class staying hurdler, Mighty Man won two Liverpool Hurdles at Aintree and was twice placed in the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

But Daly – based at Downton Hall, near Ludlow – had appeared to be moving him towards a career in chasing before this latest injury setback.