Cyclone fine after winning return
Trainer Shark Hanlon feels Hidden Cyclone has set himself up for an exciting season that could lead to the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Last Updated: 30/10/12 12:59pm
Trainer Shark Hanlon feels Hidden Cyclone has set himself up for an exciting season that could lead to the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup in March after he made a winning comeback at Naas on Monday.
The County Carlow handler has never made any secret of the regard in which he holds the seven-year-old, who has now won eight of his 10 races.
Returning to action for the first time since January, he wandered around after the last fence, but stayed on to beat Foildubh by a length and a half.
"There's not a bother on him," said Hanlon.
"He travelled like a dream the whole way and I know he hung after the last but that's not an issue.
"Andrew (McNamara, jockey) said there was plenty left in the tank - it was just greenness.
"Andrew was very happy with him. We thought it might be sharp enough yesterday but we wanted to get a run into him. It was tiring old ground.
"He'll go to Gowran next for a winners-of-two race, then it will be the Lexus Chase. Hopefully after that it will be the Hennessy Gold Cup and then on to Cheltenham in March.
"He only didn't run at the end of last season as my horses were wrong but he'll have a longer season this time.
"There's plenty of improvement in him."