Noel Doyle has trained some of the best horses to come out of Queensland but believes if not for injury, Le Val could have been the best.

As always, Doyle will have his fingers crossed when injury troubled Le Val continues his comeback to racing in the Queensland X Ray Handicap (1200m) at Doomben on Saturday.

“I never look too far ahead with him. As I said after he won his last start at Doomben I just wanted to get him home without anything else going wrong,” Doyle said.

“He just has so much ability and it is a crying shame he has been injured so often,” Doyle said.

At one time, Doyle thought Le Val could have been a Cox Plate horse.

He trained Kinjite, a star of the early 1990s, who won the Group One Epsom Handicap in 1992 before running second to Super impose in the Cox Plate.

Doyle was also the early trainer of multiple Group One winner Stylish Century and another of his horses Don’t Play was a talented sprinter-miler in the 1980s.

“The days of talking about Cox Plates and the like with Le Val are long gone,” Doyle said.

“But I would still like to win a nice race with him.”

“Saturday’s race is just another step along the way. If things continue to go OK he is a Magic Millions horse and there are some rich races he can contest in January.”

Le Val has already tasted big race success at the Gold Coast, having won the 2013 Listed Ken Russell Memorial Handicap as a youngster.

“He ran in the Queensland Sires behind Zoustar but was injured and it has been trouble ever since,” Doyle said.

In-form jockey Michael Cahill will ride Le Val, taking over from Tim Bell.

“I know he has 59kg but he isn’t an apprentices’ horse,” Doyle said.

“He is a big strong hard-going horse.”

Article from justhorseracing.com.au