Positive news on Don Cossack Gordon Elliott plans to give Don Cossack just one run before he defends his Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup crown next March - as long as the star chaser shows sufficient progress from injury. The nine-year-old is well on the road to recovery from a tendon problem, but Elliott reiterated that the six-times Grade One scorer would be retired if it looks as though he might not reach the heights to which he has grown accustomed. "He scanned OK a few weeks ago," the County Meath handler told At The Races. "I think he could be back within a month, then he'll start on roadwork. "He'll probably do eight weeks of that, get re-scanned and if everything is OK we'll start back with him then - but everything will have to be 110 per cent. "It'll be day by day. If he stays OK, he'll be back and if he doesn't, he'll have a happy retirement. "If the horse is 110 per cent the plan would be to have one run - I'm not sure where yet - and then the Gold Cup, but if he's not 110 per cent he'll be retired. "He doesn't owe us anything."
