Commander gets green light for Aintree
The Cheltenham Gold Cup hero has come out of the Festival in such good form that trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies is happy to take him to Merseyside.
“I’ve had a chat with the owners. And as long as I’m happy he runs and I’m very happy at the moment,” said the trainer. “He’s come out of the Gold Cup in fantastic shape.”
Meanwhile, Nicky Henderson has pinned his hopes on a minor breathing operation bringing Punjabi back to form in the Rabobank Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.
The seven-year-old could only finish ninth of the 12 runners in his defence of the Champion Hurdle crown at Cheltenham last month but his trainer hopes he can put that run behind him on April 23.
“He was beaten a short-head in the race last year and won the year before, so he likes Punchestown,” said Henderson.
“We have just tinkered with his pallet since Cheltenham as it just affected him a little bit and he made a bit of a noise.
“We’ve never heard it before but often in these cases you just want to get on and do something about it.”
Henderson also had news of his novice chase stars, including Long Run and Punchestowns, who will not run again this season.
“Punchestowns is finished for the season sadly as he’s got a fracture in his hock,” said Henderson.
“Thankfully it’s not displaced and doesn’t require any surgery.
“Long Run is finished as well and we felt he was probably just a little bit over the top at Cheltenham.
“He’d been on the go quite a long time and was probably a bit flattened.
“Riverside Theatre will probably wait until Punchestown, French Opera could go for the two-mile novice chase at Aintree, with Mad Max going for the two-and-a-half-mile novice chase.”
Sam Thomas is taking a holiday in South Africa after deciding he needed more time to recover from the injuries he sustained on the gallops. He will now miss the John Smith’s Grand National meeting at Aintree.
Thomas suffered a hairline fracture of his upper back in a fall on the gallops at Paul Nicholls’ stable in early March. It ruled him out of the Cheltenham Festival.
Although he began riding out again last week, Thomas did not feel fit enough to return to action.
“It’s still a bit sore so I took the view I wanted to give it a bit more time,” he said.
“I’ve no date as yet on when I plan to return. I just thought I’d wait a bit longer.
