DUAL Champion Hurdle winner Buveur D’Air is ‘flying’ ahead of his return from a freak injury.
The Nicky Henderson-trained 10-year-old has been off since his hoof was punctured by a huge splinter at Newcastle in November 2019.
He is set to have his first run in 14 months at Haydock this Saturday when he tackles the New One Unibet Hurdle.
The JP McManus-owned star, who is 5-4 favourite with the sponsors, will be ridden by Nico de Boinville for the first time this weekend.
The top jock said: “As a jockey these are the types of rides you want to pick up and I’m very grateful to have been put forward for it.
“It was a complete freak of an accident he suffered at Newcastle. It was one of those things. I’ve never seen it before and I don’t think I will see it again.
“JP McManus’s team have worked wonders to get him back. The governor (Nicky Henderson) and Hannah Ryan, who rides him every day, have done fantastically well to get him ready for a run let alone have him in flying form.”
De Boinville revealed he and Buveur D’Air prepared for this Saturday with a schooling session and a spin on the gallops last week.
He continued: “I schooled him over a few hurdles last week and did a piece of work on him and I was very happy.
“All the questions we have asked of him he has answered them well.
“Hannah Ryan rides him most of the time but from what I saw last week he felt in great shape.
“He remains very slick over his hurdles and you need to be like that in top class hurdle races where as we know his record speaks for itself.”
Buveur D’Air won back-to-back Champion Hurdles in 2017 and 2018 before he fell when going for a hat-trick a year later, when the race was eventually won by the late Espoir D’Allen.
The veteran has been trimmed into 12-1 from 16s for the Champion ahead of his reappearance, with the market headed by his stablemate Epatante (6-4).
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