Arctic Skipper on the comeback trail Grade Two-winning chaser Arctic Skipper will be back in action early in 2018 after missing a year with what trainer Vincent Halley described as "problem after problem". The big Flemensfirth gelding enjoyed his finest hour when springing a 25-1 shock in the Fortria Chase at Navan in November 2016. He then stepped markedly back up in trip for his next assignment, finishing 10th in the Lexus Chase over three miles at Leopardstown the following month. Arctic Skipper has not been seen since and his handler revealed: "He got very bad colic and we nearly lost him. "He had a wind procedure then. After that it was a little niggle and it's taken us a lot longer to get him back to the track than we initially thought. "He's back in full work now, though. He's in great form and he's still very lightly raced. "I'd suppose you never know once they've had a few problems but he's still a young horse and he's enjoying his work." With things going in the right direction, Halley has a comeback date pencilled in for his father Lar's eight-year-old. Halley jnr said: "The plan is to start him off in a handicap hurdle at Thurles in January. There's a race there for him, I think it's on the 19th, over two miles. "If he can run well and come out of his first outing unscathed, we'll be happy. "However fit you have them for their first run, when they haven't been out for a year, they'll always take the run. "We'd just be happy if he ran well and comes out of it fine. We'll make a plan after that then."
