Paris Pike returns to action Paris Pike, the 2000 Scottish Grand National winner, makes his eagerly-awaited comeback from a 20-month absence because of a leg injury at Kelso tomorrow. The nine-year-old has to give upwards of 20lb to his three rivals in the Tote Placepot Champion Chase (Showcase Handicap) over three miles and a furlong at the Borders track where he is unbeaten in three visits. And trainer Ferdy Murphy today spoke of his delight at getting his stable star racing again. 'We are just glad to get him back on the race track and give it every chance. He is fairly forward, but he will be better for the run having been off that long,' said Murphy. 'It will be interesting to see how the race is run. Hopefully someone will go on and make it a gallop. We wouldn`t want to make the pace but we may end up doing it.' Paris Pike returned to Murphy`s Middleham stables in July. 'He is fit to do himself justice, but horses that have been off for that long always improve for the run.' Murphy would not be drawn on long-range plans for Paris Pike, who is quoted at 25-1 for the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup and 33-1 for the Martell Grand National with William Hill. 'The thing is to get tomorrow out of the way and from then you can plan. There are two ways of going tomorrow - we`ll either go up we`ll go down.' Murphy reported that Streamstown and Hindiana, both unplaced in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, had come out of Saturday`s Newbury feature none the worse. 'Both are in the paddock at the moment, fresh as daisies and not a bother on them. There`s not a mark on either of them so we are very happy with both of them. It was a great race,' he said. 'We`ll just try and find some races for Hindiana as he needs more experience. He made two fairly bad mistakes.' 'Streamstown will go for something like the Singer & Friedlander at Uttoxeter or the De Vere Gold Cup at Haydock. He was still staying on at the line. 'We decided to drop both of them in as we thought they were going to go a hell of a gallop and come back to us but when Grey Abbey fell at the third the complexion of the race changed.'
