CONEYGREE has been given the thumbs-up after his thrilling comeback run at Cheltenham.

The 11-year-old, trained by Mark Bradstock at Letcombe Bassett, near Wantage, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2015, went out on his shield when third to Rock The Kasbah on Saturday.

His career since that famous day four years ago has been hampered by a succession of injuries and he was making just his sixth start after reaching the pinnacle.

“He’s fine, understandably a bit stiff, but essentially he’s ok,” Bradstock said.

“The biggest issue last year was Wetherby where he struck into himself. That was a lot worse than everybody thought, he ripped quite a bit of his foot off.

“Then a breathing issue surfaced at Newbury and he had a tongue tie on for the first time yesterday and that seemed to help a bit.”

He went on: “I think his run yesterday put a few people back in their box. I never considered retirement because mentally he is still in a very good place.

“One has to be very careful, but we are the last people who would ever put a horse in a position that was detrimental to their well being.

“We’ll take it hour-by-hour with him. My wife spends an awful lot of time with him and I have to give a lot of the credit to her. He sadly doesn’t particularly like me, but I let him off for that!

“The response he got yesterday, the whole way back, it brought a tear to your eye. It was magical.”