IMPERIAL READY FOR COMEBACK CALL

Imperial Call was today reported in good form as he is prepared for a possible return to racecourse action.

However, trainer Raymond Hurley will wait for at least a month before deciding on a comeback race for the 12-year-old, winner of the 1996 Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The gelding has been out of action since finishing last of four runners in the Powers Gold Label Champion Chase at Gowran Park in October 1999.

'He`s in good form,' Hurley said. 'Basically he was pin-fired last May.

'His joints were giving him problems. He was very hard to train so we thought it best to pin-fire him and he came out of it grand.

'He`s been back since the middle of October and what he`s doing at the moment he`s doing right.

'Being pin-fired in May is late enough but at the moment he`s doing really nicely so it`s so far so good.'

Imperial Call was given an entry in this season`s Gold Cup earlier this month but Hurley is taking a softly-softly approach.

'The entry date for the GoldCup was coming up so we put him in as a precaution,' Hurley added.

'He won`t be running within the next month but if the next month goes to plan we`ll be looking at the Calendar and we`ll go from there.

'He`s 12 now but he doesn`t seem to be ageing, he`s in great spirits.'