Oasis are back! Here are definitely, maybe five of horseracing's greatest comebacks

Oasis are back. Many Britpop fans thought it would never happen, but after 14 years in the wilderness, the band are getting back together. Here we recall five of racing's best comeback stories . . .

Sprinter Sacre

Nicky Henderson's chaser completed an extraordinary comeback when he recaptured the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2016 after a heart problem threatened to prematurely end his career.

Three years earlier Sprinter Sacre had looked invincible, winning the Champion Chase as part of a ten-race winning streak, but in December 2013 the racing world was stunned after he was pulled up when 2-9 for the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton and found to be suffering from an irregular heartbeat.

The star chaser returned to the track but his old imperious dominance appeared to have deserted him. It took two and a half years to record his first success in November 2015, before his Champion Chase victory the following March completed a miraculous return to the pinnacle of the sport.

“To come back and do that after all that time, it’s incredible,” Nicky Henderson said at the time. “The two years in the wilderness were dark days. This is completely different to where he was a couple of years ago."

Sir Henry Cecil

In 2005 Sir Henry Cecil sent out just 12 winners and the following year he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The sporting public feared the training career of this great of the game was coming to a quiet, tragic close.

Sir Henry Cecil: came back from illness and enjoyed monumental success with FrankelCredit: Mark Cranham

But in 2007 Cecil registered an eighth victory in the Oaks with Light Shift and Group 1 horses like Midday and Twice Over continued his resurgence before Cecil unearthed the horse of a lifetime in Frankel, whose electrifying 2,000 Guineas victory in 2011 was arguably the highlight of a sensational career.

Cecil died in June 2013, just eight months after Frankel finished his 14-race career unbeaten in the Champion Stakes.

Kyprios

Aidan O'Brien described the likelihood of top stayer Kyprios coming back from injury to win a second Gold Cup as "millions to one" after he remarkably achieved just that at Royal Ascot in June.

Kyprios's life – let alone his career – was in danger at one stage following a joint injury and subsequent infection but he was nursed back to full health and has retained all his natural ability.

Kyprios: has been back to his best after returning from a life-threatening infectionCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

O'Brien said after his Gold Cup win over Trawlerman this summer: "When he came back we had to get him on a treadmill and teach him how to walk. Then we had to teach him how to trot and then how to hack and this was before a rider even went near him. It was like someone having the most horrific injury as a human being and it was winning the Olympics to get back to moving and walking but this horse has come back to the very top level, which is unbelievable really.

"It shouldn't have happened but it did. I've never experienced anything within 100 miles of it. Usually they lose movement in the joint and, for a while, he did but it came back."

Kyprios went on to land the Goodwood Cup for a second time in July and connections are already working back from a tilt at a third Gold Cup next year.

Breeders' Cup glory for Lester Piggott

British Flat racing's riding icon Lester Piggott had left his days in the saddle behind him in the mid 1980s, embarking on a training career that was brought to a halt by a year in prison for tax fraud.

Piggott, however, made one of the unlikeliest returns to race-riding, with the official second coming taking place at Leicester in October 1990.

On just his second week back, Piggott completed a sensational comeback, taking over from the injured John Reid and winning the Breeders' Cup Mile on Royal Academy at Belmont. He said: "No moment in my career ever tasted sweeter."

Bob Champion and Aldaniti

In 1979 jockey Bob Champion was diagnosed with testicular cancer and leading chaser Aldaniti suffered a leg injury that put his life in danger.

Aldaniti: inspiring winner of the 1981 Grand NationalCredit: Getty Images

The fact man and horse both recovered at all is a heartwarming tale, but for the pair to win a Grand National together just two years later is little short of a miracle.

The 1981 Grand National triumph remains one of the greatest moments in the rich history of horseracing. Bob Champion wrote a book on the events called Champion’s Story which was then made into the film Champions, with John Hurt playing the comeback rider.

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