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Promising hurdler hurt himself during Kempton win.

Exciting prospect Doddiethegreat  has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering an injury during his latest victory at Kempton three weeks ago.

The five-year-old – who runs in the Honeysuckle colours of owner Kenny Alexander – is named after Scottish rugby union great Doddie Weir, who is suffering from motor neurone disease.

Weir set up his own charity – the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation – to raise funds to aid research into MND, and Alexander has kindly donated all prize-money Doddiethegreat accrues to the charity.

Impressive in winning bumpers at Ludlow and Huntingdon last season, Nicky Henderson's charge made a fine start to his jumping career with a 22-length success at Kempton – taking his career earnings to just under £9,000.

But Alexander's racing manager, Peter Molony, revealed afterwards Doddiethegreat had returned with "quite a nasty cut", and he is now set for a prolonged spell on the sidelines.

Molony said: "He will be fine, but he's going to miss the rest of the season sadly.

"He gave his tendon a bit of a knock in the race. We're very confident that he'll be fine, but it's going to take a bit of time.

"It's a pity, he's an exciting horse. Hopefully he'll be back next year – we'll look forward to that."