Former Gold Cup winner sparkles in schooling session

There is no reason Gold Cup hero Coneygree cannot return to the heights he scaled when he became the first novice for 41 years to win Cheltenham's showpiece in 2015, his big-race rider Nico de Boinville said on Tuesday.

De Boinville, who also rides star two-mile chaser Sprinter Sacre, was speaking after he had put the strapping Coneygree through his paces on the schooling grounds in Upper Lambourn.

A general 12-1 shot for the Timico-backed Gold Cup that he was unable to defend through his injury last season, the Mark Bradstock-trained nine-year-old is pencilled in for his first start for more than a year in Haydock's Betfair Chase on November 19, although the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby will be considered if conditions are not too quick.