Sam Spinner versus Windsor Avenue at Doncaster on Saturday

YORKSHIRE’S top two novice steeplechasers are set to put their respective unbeaten records on the line at Doncaster this Saturday.
By Tom Richmond
Published 9th Dec 2019, 16:55 BST
Sam Spinner is unbeaten from two steeplechase starts at Wetherby under Joe Colliver.Sam Spinner is unbeaten from two steeplechase starts at Wetherby under Joe Colliver.
Sam Spinner is unbeaten from two steeplechase starts at Wetherby under Joe Colliver.

Both Jedd O’Keeffe’s Sam Spinner and Brian Ellison’s Windsor Avenue have been handed entries into the Bet365 December Novices Chase.

Windsor Avenue, owned by Phil and Julie Martin, made a winning chase debut at Sedgefield under Brian Hughes before winning at Carlisle last month.

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As for Sam Spinner, a Grade One-winning hurdler in 2017 for owners Paul and Caron Chapman, Joe Colliver’s mount has won both of his steeplechasing starts at Wetherby.

Victory would provide some solace for Leyburn-based O’Keeffe when Aegeus, a leading fancy at Lingfield yesterday, was declared a non-runner after the wrong horse arrived at the Surrey track.

The embarrassed trainer blamed the mix-up on “one stupid error” at his yard. “We bought the owners a number of horses at the horses in training sales,” he told the Racing Post. “Two came back together and they’ve been mixed up ever since. It’s completely and utterly my fault and my fault alone that I didn’t check.”

Might Bite could revert to hurdles on his next appearance following the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree on Saturday when he unseated Nico de Boinville at the fourth fence. Former champion trainer Nicky Henderson is considering the option to revitalise the 2018 Gold Cup runner up.

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