Iris De Balme - progressing well.
IRIS ON COMEBACK TRAIL
By Tom Peacock, Press Association Sport
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Iris De Balme is progressing towards a racecourse return after missing all of last season.
Trainer Sean Curran hopes his stable star will eventually end up in the Grand National at Aintree next April after an outstanding 2008, when he was a 66-1 winner of the Scottish National and an honourable fourth in the Bet365 Gold Cup, when sent off the 9-2 favourite.
But Curran discovered heat in one of his tendons and allowed the horse plenty of time to recover.
The Oxfordshire-based trainer revealed: "He's back cantering now and, touch wood, everything seems OK at the minute.
"If he holds his rating, and he has a good enough rating at the moment, I would love to go for the National, but he may have to show he deserves his place.
"We would be looking to come back in the middle or end of December and we'll see how he comes along.
"He is a novice over hurdles, so that is one option so he can get his eye back in, otherwise we'll run in a staying chase somewhere."
Curran, a popular character who rode some of his horses up to last season, is making a decent fist of his other career.
He continued: "We have about 25 jumpers, that's not bad, and had a nice three-year-old hurdler (Prince Pippin) win the other day. Hopefully he can win another ordinary race. We've been steady away, but things are good."
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