Injured Le Reve has Sandown aim Lucy Wadham hopes to have Le Reve back from injury in time for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown in April. The eight-year-old is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a stress fracture to his neck following a multiple horse pile-up in a Grade Three at Cheltenham earlier this month. After unseating Nico de Boinville, who was left nursing a broken arm, at the second fence, Le Reve continued to gallop on riderless before getting trapped between the wings of the 12th fence. Although leader Shotgun Paddy cleared the gelding, Cogry, Midnight Prayer and Racing Pulse were all brought down in the resulting melee, which saw Le Reve carried over the fence by the charging field. Wadham said: "It was horrific. He had a bone scan at the end of last week and he has a stress fracture to the base of his neck. It is not displaced so it should heal. He is on box rest. "He unseated Nico with a bad jump and he got trodden on and Le Reve continued round the whole course. "He came down the hill in front of the field and he could not see the others as he had blinkers on. He started to pull himself up on the take-off side of the fence and they took him over to the landing side. "He took a hell of a battering. I did think he was dead and I couldn't believe he got up. He was hit by three horses and they carried him over the fence. "He is lucky to be alive, but we are pretty hopeful for the long term. He won't be out until the spring at the earliest. The bet365 is what I was hoping to have him back for, but it is early days yet. "Luckily he has got a great temperament and is being a good patient. We will X-ray him again in a few weeks."
