Wells shows right spirit
The Paul Nicholls-trained eight-year-old has been found out by the very soft ground this winter except for when he was just touched off by his stablemate Zarkandar at Wincanton.
However, with conditions improving, the real Prospect Wells (3-1) was on show as he pulled clear of his rivals from the final flight to take the Grade Two heat over two and a half miles by seven lengths from Meister Eckhart.
Nicholls indicated after the race that Prospect Wells could bypass Cheltenham, where he holds entries in the Coral Cup, County Hurdle and Ladbrokes World Hurdle, and run instead at Aintree’s Grand National meeting.
* Jumps jockey Maurice Linehan is likely to be sidelined for at least a couple of months after suffering bad injuries in a fall at Kempton on Saturday.
The 5lb claiming conditional has been detained in St George’s Hospital, Tooting, following his spill from the Jonjo O’Neill-trained Mister Hyde at the first fence in the Racing Plus Chase.
“He’s broken his sternum and has broken two vertebrae,” said the Jackdaws Castle handler.”
“He’ll be in hospital for a few days and we will see what happens when it all settles down a bit. It looks like he’ll be out for a little while.”
