Injury-plagued Coneygree in line for comeback at Down Royal

INJURY-PLAGUED chaser Coneygree could return at Down Royal in November.

The 11-year-old has been off the track since being pulled up with a wind problem in the Ladbrokes Trophy nearly 10 months ago.

In 2015, he became the first novice in 41 years to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

He has suffered several setbacks since then, including a stress fracture of his tibia earlier this year.

However, Sara Bradstock, wife of trainer Mark, is confident he will be fit to tackle the JNWine.com Champion Chase on 3 November.

Bradstock said: “Coneygree is in good form and there’s a few different approaches we’re taking to try and keep him sound.

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“Everything is going well at the moment anyway, so fingers crossed it stays that way.

“When they’ve had a stress fracture like he did you can’t completely let them down.

“You have to be a bit careful, but he went out in the field for two weeks and he’s now back in fast work.”

She continued: “I think we’re probably going to start him off going right-handed, to take some pressure off his left-hind leg.

“We could look at Down Royal, or there’s the open handicap at Ascot on the same day – the Sodexo Gold Cup.

“The only thing is you’d probably need a lot of rain to be running him in England, which is why we’re thinking Down Royal might be more suitable.

“If he goes lame again then we’ll retire him, but everything is going well at the moment, so fingers crossed it stays that way.”

Bradstock also provided a positive update on the bet365 Gold Cup winner Step Back, with an ambitious campaign being planned for the eight-year-old.

She said: “He’s really good and I think we’re learning to deal with the tying up (muscle cramp) problems he’s had in the past.

“The Grand National is the long-term target and we’ll keep our options open in terms of where we start off.

“Whether we go for the Hennessy (Ladbrokes Trophy) or the Becher Chase, we’ll see.

“It will slightly depend on the ground, so we’ll see what happens.”