Trainer Tim Easterby expects his National Hunt star Barton to return to action later this season, he revealed today.
The gelding, who won all seven of his starts over timber in the 1998/99 season including the Royal & Sun Alliance Hurdle at Cheltenham, missed all of last term with a tendon injury.
Easterby told Channel 4 Racing: 'He'll be back next year.
'He's not actually back in the yard yet but he's back in road work so we're looking forward to him.
'Tendon jobs are things that want respecting.
'You never know - sometimes they stand, sometimes they don't.'
