MARK Bradstock has issued an upbeat bulletin on Coneygree, with hopes still alive that the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero could return to action in the spring at either Aintree or Punchestown.

The fragile ten-year-old, trained by Bradstock and his wife Sara at Letcombe Bassett, will miss the Cheltenham Festival for a second consecutive season, but is on the road to recovery following a leg injury.

He has only had two races since his finest hour almost two years ago, the latest being at Haydock in November when he was second to Cue Card in the Betfair Chase.

However, Coneygree is making encouraging progress and has two possible targets in April – the Betfred Bowl at Aintree and the Punchestown Gold Cup.

“He’s in really good form,” said his handler. “He’s been swimming. He’s going on a water treadmill and Sara rides him out as well.

“What we are trying to do is to make sure all his muscles don’t completely fall to flab.

“What happened was not a total disaster and we’re still keen to see if we can get him back for either Aintree or Punchestown. “On a scale of one to ten, the setback was probably a four.

“It wasn’t that drastic, but with these races like the Gold Cup you do need an almost clean run to them and he would have needed a prep run, before the Gold Cup and that probably wasn’t going to happen.

“From Haydock to the Gold Cup (without a run in between) would have been unfair on the horse, to ask him to run in a race like that with no prep or anything.” “The thing with him is although he’s ten, the fact is he’s had very little racing and mentally he is still a child.

Meanwhile, Fern Owl followed up December’s course-and-distance win at Southwell for East Ilsley trainer Hughie Morrison with a hard-fought success in a two-mile handicap.

The five-year-old battled home by three-quarters of a length from Start Seven in the hands of Robert Winston.