Dan Skelton has revealed that he has no immediate plans with The New Lion following his fall in last weekend’s dramatic Fighting Fifth at Newcastle.

The JP McManus-owned six-year-old lost his unbeaten record when tumbling last Saturday but Dan Skelton provided a positive bulletin on last year's Turners Novices' Hurdle hero, who still looks sure to take high rank this season in the two-mile hurdle division.

He told Racing TV: "Remarkable, I expected him to be stiff and sore but he's not. We trotted him up the day after he was sound, we trotted him up for the vets on Monday and he was absolutely fine.

"We couldn't find anything that needed any treatment, physios were at him on Sunday morning just in case but he's just fine.

"We got away with it, but we also didn't away with that he can be veery brave at his jumps, two-out at Cheltenham he was very flat and very low, and he only just made it. We saw on the Tuesday State Man not quite make it and unfortunately at Newcastle it was our turn to not quite make it.

"He is an intelligent horse, and I'd like to say that he's a thinker and he'll go home and learn from this. He's a brave horse, so I don't see him not coming back and facing those hurdles as aggressively as he has but hopefully, he's just a bit sharper on his feet.

"He was probably going as fast as he's ever gone in his life and I think that's what lead to it rather than indecision.

"The one thing I'm very happy with is how he coped with two miles. It's quite obvious that two miles we're very happy with."

On where we might see him next, Skelton said: "I'm just not sure."