TAKING AIM
KALASHNIKOV and Sam Spinner – who both suffered hard luck stories at Cheltenham – are being aimed at the Aintree Festival in just over a fortnight.
Amy Murphy’s stable star was hampered in the Arkle Trophy at the sixth fence when going well, unseating Jack Quinlan.
And Jedd O’Keeffe’s Sam Spinner, who ran a blinder in the Stayers’ Hurdle, was unlucky to come up against the brilliant Paisley Park.
Kalashnikov will seek compensation by stepping up to two-and-a-half miles at Aintree in the Manifesto Novices’ Chase on the Thursday.
Murphy said: “He was very plainly sore in his mouth for a couple of days afterwards because the reins had come out over his head and he had carried on jumping round.
“He had broken the bit in his mouth. Other than that, he’s absolutely fine. It’s early days, but we’ve pencilled in the Manifesto at Aintree.”
O’Keeffe hopes Sam Spinner can go one better than at Cheltenham in the Ryanair Stayers’ Hurdle at the National meeting.
He felt his stable star was back to his best in chasing home Paisley Park last week.
With Emma Lavelle’s champion unlikely to make Liverpool, O’Keeffe would be happy to take Sam Spinner to Merseyside and try to improve on his third place last April.
He said: “I was absolutely thrilled. It was great to see him back to pretty much his best. Marvellous, a really good team effort getting him back there.
“He’s come out of the race
100%. We’re really happy with him.
We’re making plans to go to
Aintree at the moment but more than anything to avoid Paisley
Park.” O’Keeffe also gave credit to jockey Joe Colliver, who put a pending court appearance for drink driving to the back of his mind and concentrated on the ride on Sam Spinner.
He said: “Joe gave him a fabulous ride which is what I was hoping for.
“We were all aware of what’s going on but he knows the horse better than anybody. Mentally he is a strong character is Joe. He put those things out of his head and got on with it.” Another horse of O’Keeffe’s likely to head to Aintree is Lord Yeats after his smooth victory at Hexham last week.
The smart dual-purpose performer is pencilled in for the Pinsent Masons Handicap Hurdle that concludes the three-day meeting next month. TRAINER Nick Mitchell hopes to stay in racing after saying he is handing in his licence at the end of the season.