Danoli was yesterday given the green light to resume his remarkable career, and trainer Tom Foley didn't rule out another tilt at the Cheltenham Gold Cup for the veteran 11-year-old, describing it as a "lovely dream to think of".
The former SunAlliance Hurdle and Hennessy Gold Cup hero, who captured the imagination of even the non-racing public in his prime, hasn't run for over 14 months, when he finished third to his old rival Dorans Pride at Gowran.
Shortly afterwards, a problem was discovered with an off-hind suspensory ligament but the results of a scan yesterday afternoon encouraged Foley to give his stable star another chance.
"I'm quite happy with the results of the scan and we'll start him back in work. If I wasn't happy that everything was right I wouldn't risk him," Foley said.
He added: "All we can do is hope that everything goes okay but we won't pile any pressure on him and we'll take it day by day. We'll just wait and hope the horse makes our minds up for us.
"I'd love to have another shot at the Hennessy (February 6th) but there's a possibility that might come too soon. I'd be pretty hopeful he will run again this season, and while all options are open, Cheltenham is a lovely dream to think of."
Danoli returned from a serious injury sustained when winning the Aintree Hurdle to emulate his hurdling achievements over fences. His greatest moment came in the 1997 Hennessy but a month later the Cheltenham Gold Cup dream faded behind Mr Mulligan.
Dorans Pride has a more immediate objective, but which it will be is still in doubt this morning, with Michael Hourigan leaving it until the last possible moment to decide between the King George at Kempton on Monday or the following day's Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown.
Contrary to some reports, there are no transport problems in bringing Dorans Pride from Shannon to Kempton but Hourigan and owner Tom Doran haven't committed themselves either way yet. Should Dorans Pride miss Kempton, it would mean a maximum of 11 runners in the King George, although there are also doubts about the French entry, the Francois Doumen-trained Djeddah.
Sadly, the exciting novice hurdler Senanjar will not be presenting trainer Michael O'Brien with such problems for a while, after injuring a leg.
The half brother to the champion miler, Sendawar, has heat in a foreleg and will be given time to recover. O'Brien has immediately ruled Senanjar out of a Christmas appearance and the four-year-old may not race again this season. In other news, it was announced yesterday that any horse who wins next month's £50,000 Thyestes Chase and then goes on to win any chase at the Cheltenham festival will receive a £50,000 bonus from the Thyestes sponsors, Cuisine De France.
It's hoped the financial carrot will entice the finest Thyestes lineup in years and a £500 travel allowance is available for any overseas horse that finishes unplaced in the big race.
