Cooper targets Listowel Harvest Festival return

Bryan Cooper is looking to be back on a horse next month in order to return to competitive action in time for Listowel's Harvest Festival in mid-September.

Gigginstown's 21-year-old retained jockey suffered a complicated and excruciating multiple fracture of one of his legs in a fall from Clarcam in the Fred Winter Hurdle at the last Cheltenham Festival.

Revived from a holiday, Cooper is now getting down to hard fitness work before getting into the saddle.

“It’s going well,” he said.

“I’ve got to see my specialist in a few weeks and hopefully I will be passed fit to start riding out in early August. The aim is to be back for Listowel.

“I’m just building back the muscle and working on my fitness . . . I’ve got a lot to look forward to coming back to.”

Meanwhile, Globe-trotting stayer Simenon – who finished second to Estimate in the Gold Cup and came fourth in the Melbourne Cup – could make a surprise first appearance over hurdles for a year-and-a-half at Tipperary on Saturday.

Trainer Willie Mullins decided last season to return the gelding to the Flat after he flopped in a couple of outings in the winter of 2012.

There was nonetheless some surprise when his name appeared in the entries for the Kevin McManus Bookmaker Grimes Hurdle alongside another of Mullins’s star dual purpose performers, Queen Alexandra Stakes winner Pique Sous.