Alner making progress

Robert Alner continues to improve slowly following his horrific car crash last week.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer broke a bone in his neck after his Peugeot 406 collided with a telegraph pole near Sturminster Newton in Dorset.

“I spoke to his daughter Jennifer this morning who went to see him yesterday,” said jockey Andrew Thornton.

“They had propped him up in bed and brought him round. He wasn’t sedated when she saw him.

“It’s going to be a slow job. He’s not able to chat away at the moment but he is able to communicate. He has movement in his arms which has got to be a good thing.

“It’s going to be very frustrating for him because he is a man who likes to be doing things, he’s always racing and saddling the horses.

“It’s going to be slow progress and at the moment it is just close family who are able to see him.

“They don’t want too many people going to hospital because the risk of infection is just so high these days,” he said.