Master Minded on road to recovery Paul Nicholls is confident Master Minded will bounce back to his best after it emerged the dual Champion Chase hero had suffered a broken rib. The six-year-old was beaten into third on his first outing of the campaign at Cheltenham but having hung right for much of the race, and even after the event, the injury was discovered. The Game Spirit Chase at Newbury on February 13th is being considered as a potential comeback target, before hopefully defending his Cheltenham crown a month later. "Obviously he was hanging during the race and even two days after the race, just walking round the village, he was hanging," said Nicholls. "We sent him off for a bone scan which revealed a hot spot, showing he had a fractured rib. "That explains it all and it was obviously a brave effort to run as well as he did. "He just needs a month now to get over that and he is still doing three hours walking a day, which is a lot of mileage, you just can't ride him. "There is every chance he'll be back to run in the Game Spirit, but if not, definitely the Champion Chase," the trainer told Channel 4 Racing. "There is no reason why we can't get him back to his best."
