Sean Bowen ready to return

Sean Bowen is expected to resume race riding next week after recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained last month.

The rider's father, trainer Peter Bowen, reports the 17-year-old to be heading back to Ditcheat to join forces with current champion trainer Paul Nicholls on Monday.

Bowen jnr has been out of action since sustaining a shoulder ligament injury in a first-fence fall in the North Yorkshire Grand National at Catterick on January 8, but he had previously made his presence felt with a number of victories on big race days.

He steered the Nicholls-trained Ulck Du Lin to glory in the Listed Byrne Group Handicap Chase at Ascot back in November, while at Cheltenham on New Year's Day, he notched a double following victories aboard Mon Parrain for Nicholls and Rolling Maul for his father.

"He is going back down to Paul's on Monday and he will be back riding next week. He has started riding out at home and he will school a couple here tomorrow. He says that he has no pain in the shoulder at all and feels fine," said Bowen snr.

While the injury has meant time on the sidelines for rider, his father feels the enforced absence could have worked out in his favour.

The trainer said: "The injury could be a blessing in disguise for Sean as it means he has been able to keep his 5lb claim before both Cheltenham and Aintree, which may not have been the case if had kept on riding."

With Bowen jnr being mentioned as a star of the future following his numerous impressive displays in the saddle this season , the Haverfordwest handler was confident that would be the case given his son's grounding.

"He has always looked a natural," he added.

"Even when he was riding in pony races, he was good and hopefully that can continue.

"He has probably ridden in about 100 pony races and when you come into racing as a claiming jockey, that is a big advantage. That is why the Irish lads are often ahead of us as they take part in pony racing from an early age."