Unbeaten chaser Sam Spinner out for the season after suffering pelvic injury

Unbeaten novice chaser Sam Spinner has been ruled out for the season after suffering a pelvic injury.

Last season's Stayers' Hurdle runner-up had won all three of his starts over fences this season, most notably defeating Windsor Avenue by 38 lengths at Doncaster, and had been installed as a 16-1 shot for the RSA Chase.

Trainer Jedd O’Keeffe admitted to being "gutted" that his yard superstar was on the sidelines, as he thought the 159-rated chaser was in peak condition following his last race two weeks ago.

He said: "We’re all absolutely gutted. He came out his race seemingly 100 per cent, we were really happy with him following the race and also back in the yard the next day, he looked a million dollars.

"He had a couple of easy weeks with light exercise to recover from the race and he returned to light cantering on Sunday, when we weren't happy with him.

"The vet had a look at him on Monday morning and he has sustained a pelvic injury, which means we’re going to write off this season. They think he sustained the injury in the race and the return to training has flagged up the problem."

It was not the birthday present O'Keeffe, 51 on Monday, would have wanted but he remained positive.

He said: "It’s disappointing but we’re grateful he’s in one piece. We’ve got a fantastic team looking after him, he loves his job and he’s an absolute dream to work with, so we’ll make sure we get him fit and ready for a great campaign next year."

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