Toole responding to doctors

RACING: NEWS:IRISH JOCKEY Peter Toole is now obeying commands from doctors as he continues to recover from his fall at Aintree on Grand National day.

The 22-year-old from Meath suffered bleeding on the right side of his brain when Classic Fly fell at the first fence during the Maghull Novices’ Chase, and he is currently in the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery.

He was taken out of a medically-induced coma on Thursday and his boss, Charlie Mann, reported further progress yesterday.

“Peter remains in a stable condition,” said Mann. “Positive signs (are that) he has woken enough to obey commands from doctors, (but he) remains on a ventilator at present.”

Meanwhile, Tom Queally is confident fitness will not be an issue for Frankel when he returns to action in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury this afternoon.

Following an unbeaten juvenile campaign culminating in a brilliant display in the Dewhurst, Henry Cecil’s colt heads the markets for the 2,000 Guineas and the Investec Derby.

Cecil has admitted a slight concern about the readiness of his string at this early stage of the season, with one or two youngsters disappointing at the Craven meeting earlier this week.

However, Queally believes Frankel is so exceptional that he may not even need to be at his best to make a winning comeback.

“The trial race isn’t really going to tell us a lot other than how fit he is and what sort of shape he’d go to the Guineas in. I hope he doesn’t have to be fit because then he’ll have a lot in reserve, but he’s fairly fit and he’s had a good preparation,” the jockey said.

“We’ve run a handful of horses so far and some are needing the run and others aren’t. This horse is quite athletic, so you’d be hoping fitness wouldn’t be an issue.

“We’ll get him out, get a run into him and see where we’re at.”

Queally is unsure whether Frankel has improved since his juvenile year, but he is keeping everything crossed that he can keep his huge reputation intact.

“It’s a learning curve but we’re fairly sure the horse has got an awful lot of ability,” Queally continued. “It’s a trial race towards the Guineas and you’d like to think that hopefully he’ll come out and win it. Win, lose or draw (in the Guineas), we’ll judge where to go for the rest of the season based on that performance.

“My gut feeling, judged on what we saw last year, is that if he is the same horse then we’re going to have an awful lot of fun with him.”