Stepper Point on the easy list after flop in Nunthorpe Stakes

Trainer William Muir is awaiting the results of blood tests taken from Stepper Point before making plans for the future after his stable star suffered a fibrillating heart in the Nunthorpe at York last week.

Having filled the runner-up spot behind Sole Power in the Group One contest 12 months earlier, the six-year-old returned to the Knavesmire as an interesting outsider after beating Mecca's Angel in last month's Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh.

However, while Mecca's Angel claimed top honours, Stepper Point was pulled up by Martin Dwyer and it was immediately obvious all was not well.

Muir said: "People are saying he just burst a blood vessel, but what actually happened is he had a fibrillation of the heart, which then caused him to burst.

"He was quite distressed afterwards and it took him a little while to get over it. His heart was still fibrillating when he left the track, but the vet gave him a clean slip to travel home as he felt he would recover better in his own environment.

"He arrived home at around 11pm and there was still some fibrillation there, but I checked him myself at 5.30 the following morning and he was fine.

"He's had his normal bloods done and they seem to fall within the normal parameters. We have also sent some other blood results off to Newmarket which will check his heart muscles and one or two other things."

Muir is unsure when or if Stepper Point will return to competitive action, but feels the early signs are positive.

If he does make a swift recovery, he could bid to win the Derrinstown Stud Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh on September 13 for the second successive year, before heading to Paris for a crack at October's Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp.

"He actually looks very well this morning. He's just doing a light trotting exercise and will then go out in the field," said the Lambourn-based trainer.

"It's very difficult to put a timescale on these things. I've only experienced it once before and that was with Averti, who took it very badly and it took me nearly two years to get him back.

"On the other side of the coin, I was talking to David Griffiths the other day and he said exactly the same thing happened to Take Cover at York last month and a few weeks later he finished second at Goodwood.

"Stepper (Point) actually seems really well in himself, so I'm very hopeful. You have to be hopeful in this game.

"He's never let me down and I'm sure he wouldn't have let me down last week if this hadn't happened. Wherever Mecca's Angel finished, he should have been within a few lengths and that would have meant he'd run a very good race, so it's difficult to take.

"We'll wait to get the results back from Newmarket in the next day or two and that will tell us where we're going.

"There are only two races on our radar for the rest of this season - the Flying Five and the Abbaye.

"If the vets tell us to stop, we will and if they say we can go again, we will.

"What is for sure is the horse's health will come first."