Sam Spinner may be back at Wetherby next week

O’Keeffe hopes stable star will be ready in time.

Sam Spinner may make a swift return to Wetherby next week following his successful debut over fences at the track.

The Jedd O’Keeffe-trained seven-year-old enjoyed a tremendous campaign two seasons ago – landing a valuable handicap hurdle at Haydock and the Long Walk at Ascot before finishing fifth when favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

He was disappointing for much of last term, but proved his talent remains intact when posting a fine effort to fill the runner-up spot behind star stayer Paisley Park on his return to Prestbury Park in March.

Making his first appearance since finishing down the field at the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April, Sam Spinner finished with a flourish last Wednesday to get the better of the highly-regarded Beakstown on his chasing bow – and O’Keeffe is keen to see his charge return to West Yorkshire.

“I can’t claim that he’ll make a better chaser, because that is saying something – he’s a 164-rated hurdler – but I do think there’s a chance of it,” O’Keeffe told Sky Sports Racing.

“He’s always jumped hurdles at home like little fences. I know we’ve had the odd jumping issue on the track, but we believe we’ve had genuine excuses for that and we think we’ve put that behind us.

“I’m hoping to have him ready to go back to Wetherby on November 1 for a three-mile novice chase. It’s a good track to learn, with nice fences that are a decent size, but it may just come soon enough.

“We’re monitoring at the moment, and we’ll see if he’ll be ready in time.”

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