Tag Archive for: Any Second Now

Peter Fahey confident The Big Dog has big National chance

/in /by

If a trainer’s confidence was a guide to winning the Randox Grand National, The Big Dog would be already be home and hosed.

It is never easy to be overly-optimistic in any horse race, especially so in the four-and-a-quarter-mile Aintree showpiece. More so if that horse fell on his last start.

Though The Big Dog tipped up – for the first time in his chasing career – in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February, Peter Fahey is adamant the 10-year-old, who won the Munster National and the Troytown Chase earlier this term, has all the credentials to land the £1million race.

“He travelled over great and is in great form. We are really looking forward to it,” said the Kildare handler.

“If you drew a line under his last run, his form is rock solid.

“The ground is beautiful, everything seems good and well for him. He is in great form and working well at home. You get a bit of luck in running, and hopefully he runs a big race for everyone.

“It is a race that every trainer in the world wants to win and to have a horse going to it with a great chance is brilliant.

“Please God he’ll win and it would be brilliant for everyone involved.

“I think he can win – I do. I can’t see any reason why not. I think he has a great profile. You take away his fall and he has a proper profile for it.”

Any Second Now will carry top weight of 11st 12lb, having finished an unlucky third in the race in 2021 and second to Noble Yeats last year.

In contrast to Fahey, trainer Ted Walsh feels the 11-year-old’s best chance may have passed, however.

He said: “He’s as good as he can be and I think he’s as good as he was last year. That probably won’t be good enough but anymore than that I can’t do.

Ted Walsh (right) feels Any Second Now's best chance may have gone
Ted Walsh (right) feels Any Second Now’s best chance may have gone (David Davies/PA)

“Whatever he has he has, but he is rated 8lb higher than last year and he couldn’t win it last year, so it is very hard to see him winning now. But he’s in good nick, he goes there with a good chance and I’m glad to have him.

“There’s been no hiccups all season and everything is good, no problems.

“It is great to be a part of it. I never thought I would ever have a horse that was saddlecloth number one going to the start of the Grand National anyway.

“Everyone in National Hunt racing dreams about a Gold Cup and a Grand National or Irish National and they are the biggest ones you can get.

“The dream has already been fulfilled (Walsh won the race with Papillon in 2000), but I don’t know if it will be fulfilled again.”

Le Milos bids for a second big handicap chase success of the season, having plundered the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury in November.

Le Milos bids to repeat the form that saw him win the Coral Gold Cup
Le Milos (centre) bids to repeat the form that saw him win the Coral Gold Cup (John Walton/PA)

Though he did not run again until being narrowly beaten at Kelso in early March, trainer Dan Skelton is confident he has him fitter than when last seen.

“Le Milos is in really good form. I took him for an away day recently, and he was very good,” said Skelton.

“He’s versatile in regards to the ground and I think he’ll stay the trip, so he’s got a good profile for the race.

“He’s a Coral Gold Cup winner and I can assure you that I was probably as fit as he was at Kelso!

“I was a bit embarrassed about it to be honest, as I knew he’d need the run, but then when you get caught that late, you do kick yourself a little bit.

“He was obviously a gallop short of winning that day but I know how much he’d done and how much he’s done since, so I know that will be well left behind.”

Longhouse Poet (left) ran well for a long way in last year's renewal
Longhouse Poet (left) ran well for a long way in last year’s renewal (PA)

Longhouse Poet was sixth last year, weakening in the finish after racing to the fore. He advertised his well-being when beating Roi Mage at Down Royal and trainer Martin Brassil, who won the race in 2006 with Numbersixvalverde, feels he will be right in the thick of things again.

“Everything is as it should be, hopefully,” he said. “He was a bit keen last year and we have had that to look back on, so we can see what we can do to alleviate it.

“The fact that he has had a run round there might mean he is not as exuberant as he was the first time, but at least he has the experience of it anyway.

“It’s a great ride for JJ (Slevin) and there has been plenty of rain, which won’t hurt – the slower the ground, the better.”

Vanillier looks nicely handicapped in the Aintree spectacular
Vanillier looks nicely handicapped in the Aintree spectacular (Lorraine O’Sullivan/PA)

Only three grey horses have landed the Aintree prize since the race’s inception in 1839 – The Lamb (1871), Nicolaus Silver (1961) and Neptune Collonges (2012).

Vanillier has just 10st 6lb on his back as he bids to join that elite trio and trainer Gavin Cromwell thinks there is plenty in his favour.

“He has a lovely weight,” said the Navan handler. “The ground looks like it is going to be ideal and he’s settled in well since he’s come over.

“We’re looking forward to it. His run last time behind Kemboy in the Bobbyjo was a great run, especially since were were ‘wrong’ at the weights, and that was a good prep.

“He has come out of that well and hopefully come forward a bit since then.

“Like every National, you need everything to go your way and you need luck on your side, but if he gets that, hopefully he’ll be in the mix.

“I think he’ll take to the fences. We schooled him over similar (National) fences at the Curragh and he seemed to like them, so fingers crossed he’ll go well.”

The Sam Thomas-trained Our Power also has a nice racing weight, having sneaked in at the foot of the handicap.

Winner of four of his eight starts over fences, the eight-year-old is on a hat-trick, having won competitive three-mile handicaps on his previous two starts at Ascot and Kempton.

“We took him to Lambourn as they’ve got two ready-made fences and it was a nice away day for them,” said Thomas. “He jumped brilliantly, had a good day out and a good experience all round.

“It’s very much an unknown, they go a terrible speed down to the first few and you’re in the lap of the gods really. You need to have a lot of luck, meet the first on a nice stride and get your feet on the ground.

“Sam (Twiston-Davies, jockey) is super excited, he wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s been pretty vocal about it for quite some time.

“He’s got a progressive profile I’d say. We’re going into the race with a nice, fresh horse but there are so many unknowns.”

Mister Coffey (right) will bid to give Nicky Henderson his first National success
Mister Coffey (right) will bid to give Nicky Henderson his first National success (Adam Davy/PA)

Six-times champion trainer Nicky Henderson hopes to fill the glaring omission on his glittering CV with Mister Coffey.

The eight-year-old, who was 16th when favourite for the Topham over the same Grand National fences last April, has finished runner-up on five of his eight chase starts and was placed in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham last time.

“Mister Coffey’s stats are great – he’s a maiden over fences but he placed in a National Hunt Chase. But you need to worry about my stats!” Henderson said.

“It would be nice (to win it) and we will give it a go.

“He ran a great race at Cheltenham, that was a perfect Aintree trial. He took to the fences in the Topham, it just wasn’t far enough, this time it’s another whole circuit.”

Any Second Now firmly on course for third crack at the National

/in /by

Any Second Now tuned up for this third attempt at the Randox Grand National by winning Navan’s Webster Cup for a second time.

Ted Walsh’s 11-year-old won the race by 10 lengths in 2021 before finishing third in his first crack at the Aintree marathon and having skipped Navan in favour of the Bobbyjo Chase 12 months ago, returned to the County Meath venue in top form – pulling seven lengths clear of fellow National candidate Velvet Elvis in the closing stages.

The Grade Two contest – which was originally scheduled for March 11 before being lost to the elements – is a well-used route to Liverpool by Walsh, who also won the Navan feature with Rince Ri 20 years ago and the Kill-based handler was full of praise for his stable stalwart who obliged as the 5-4 favourite.

He said: “He did it nicely, he didn’t do any more than he had to do. Denis (O’Regan) was happy with him.

“He popped away well. Got under the last a bit, the ground is very testing. When he grabbed a hold of him at the back of the last, he quickened up well.

“Each time he has gone to Aintree, his last run has been a win. It has been great to have him and he has been a model of consistency.”

Any Second Now is set to carry the top-weight of 11st 12lb in Merseyside on April 15, but despite his advancing years and that hefty weight burden off a mark 7lb higher than his current Irish figure, Walsh is happy for his veteran to take a third swing at the race having placed in the past two seasons.

He continued: “He has a month from last Saturday (until Aintree) which is grand.

“As long as he stays sound and healthy, he will go there. He has a big task with the top weight on his back.

“He wasn’t unlucky last year, a better horse on the day beat him – a horse (Noble Yeats) on the improve. He was unlucky the year before and he’ll go back and run a good race again, but everything would want to fall right for you.

“It is seven years since he won his maiden hurdle here as a four-year-old.

“He’s grand and a straightforward horse, he’s a bus of a ride.”

Any Second Now (right) ridden by Mark Walsh before going on to win the Tote Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse in 2022
Any Second Now (right) ridden by Mark Walsh before going on to win the Tote Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse in 2022 (Brian Lawless/PA)

Any Second Now was shortened to 16-1 from 20s for the Grand National by William Hill, while Paddy Power went 12s from 16-1.

Earlier on the card, Henry de Bromhead’s Senior Chief got the better of Gordon Elliott’s Landrake to land the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Hurdle.

A winner over two and a half miles at Punchestown previously, the 6-4 favourite relished the extra two furlongs in testing conditions to set up a return to the Kildare venue for the Festival next month.

“I’m delighted with that, he’s a lovely horse,” said De Bromhead.

“I like the way he ground it out there. He’s still a baby, but he is improving all the time.

Senior Chief after winning at Navan
Senior Chief after winning at Navan (PA)

“He only needs to land there, you wouldn’t want to be getting there too soon.

“It does look like that (stay all day), but yet he has a gear as well, funny enough. He was only just beaten in a two mile maiden hurdle in Clonmel.

“He’s qualified for the Red Mills auction final at Punchestown, so he’s entitled to go there. We wanted to get him a bit more experience.”

Walsh ‘absolutely shocked’ by Any Second Now’s National weight

/in /by

Trainer Ted Walsh was left “absolutely shocked” after Any Second Now was given joint top-weight for this year’s Randox Grand National.

The 11-year-old has finished third and second in the last two renewals of the world’s most famous steeplechase and will bid to make it third time lucky under the welter burden of 11st 12lb next month, after the weights were officially unveiled at an annual event in Liverpool on Tuesday.

Walsh memorably teamed up with his son Ruby to claim Grand National glory with Papillon in 2000, but feels Any Second Now would need to be an “exceptional horse” to add his name to the roll of honour.

“All I can say is that I know he’s not Red Rum, I know he’s not a Crisp and he’s not a L’Escargot, so make your own mind up,” said the trainer.

“I’m absolutely shocked that he has top-weight. He goes there in as good form as he did last year. He is in as good nick as he was last year, but he’s got top-weight so make your own mind up.

“I think he’d have to be an exceptional horse to win it with top-weight.”

Reflecting on his previous National triumph, he added: “Winning with Papillon was great. Winning the National is an outstanding moment, but to have your son on board makes it all the sweeter.”

Any Second Now is joined at the head of the weights by Gordon Elliott’s 2022 Irish Gold Cup victor Conflated and Shark Hanlon’s American Grand National hero Hewick, both of whom are first bound for next month’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Just below that trio on 11st 11lb are Conflated’s stablemate Galvin and last year’s winner Noble Yeats, trained by Emmet Mullins.

Jockey Sam Waley-Cohen celebrates winning the Randox Grand National on Noble Yeats
Jockey Sam Waley-Cohen celebrates winning the Randox Grand National on Noble Yeats (David Davies/PA)

The latter was last seen finishing third in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham and is now on course for the Gold Cup before an intended bid for back-to-back wins on Merseyside.

Mullins said: “I can’t complain with a rating of 166. It’s 19lb more than last year which will be a big ask, but he seems to have progressed well this year and we know he takes to the fences.

“It’s horses for courses and fingers crossed he can put up a bold show.”

Noble Yeats will aim to become only the second horse in history – after Golden Miller in 1934 – to win the Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same year. Mullins, though, is not getting ahead of himself.

“It’s definitely one race at a time,” he said. “You don’t think of the accolades but if he is lucky enough to do it, then he’ll get the accolades that he deserves.

“It’s special to have a horse run in those types of races, a Gold Cup or a Grand National, but to have a horse who you know is good enough to compete in them at the business end – that’s the exciting part and what keeps the yard going.

“I would say it hasn’t really fully sunk in, even now. Winning the National on our first try in the race, it has probably been lost on me how much goes into it and how many other years people have been trying to win the race and not succeeded, so I’d say I’ve been spoilt a bit and it’s hard to comprehend what happened. I’m sure one day it’ll hit me.”

Mullins also has JP McManus-owned The Shunter (10st 11lb) entered, and added: “That’s (weight) about right. He’s still not qualified I think, on the distance, so potentially he might have an entry next weekend.

“I have two or three races earmarked before the deadline and, fingers crossed, I pick the right one and get him qualified. The intention will be to take his place then if he gets qualified.”

The British Horseracing Authority’s chase handicapper Martin Greenwood is the man charged with framing the weights and is thrilled with the strength in depth in this year’s renewal.

He said: “This year we are doing well at the top end for horses rated in the 150s and 160s and there are a handful of very good horses entered, including last year’s winner Noble Yeats.

“Noble Yeats has around 20lb more than last year, but his form this season in Graded races is the reason for that. The three horses at the top of the handicap – Conflated, Any Second Now and Hewick – you would think are all quite likely to run and it’s very positive that the quality of the race at the top end of the handicap is well up to standard.

“There weren’t any horses that caused me any particular difficulties this year – they were all more or less straightforward horses.”

With Henry de Bromhead announcing the retirement of 2021 winner Minella Times, a total of 77 horses remain in contention.

Corach Rambler looks a likely Grand National contender
Corach Rambler looks a likely Grand National contender (Nigel French/PA)

Greenwood suggested the likely rating required to make the final field will be “around 142 or 143”. There are three horses rated 142 in Eva’s Oskar, Rapper and Recite A Prayer, who is 57th on the list.

Noble Yeats is the 10-1 favourite with William Hill, who have trimmed the odds of both Lucinda Russell’s Corach Rambler (10st 5lb) and the Willie Mullins-trained Mr Incredible (10st 4lb).

Spokesperson Lee Phelps said: “Any Second Now looks to have been set a tough task to go one better than his second place finish last year and as a result he has been eased in our betting to 20-1 from 14-1.

“On the flip side both Corach Rambler (14-1 from 16-1) and Mr Incredible (20-1 from 25-1) have been clipped by our traders. Corach Rambler represents a yard in Lucinda Russell who has won the race recently and remains unexposed at extended trips, which look likely to suit.

“Mr Incredible could end up being the all-conquering Willie Mullins’ first string and is unexposed for the yard.”

Walsh content with Any Second Now’s Leopardstown effort

/in /by

Any Second Now continued his preparation for the Randox Grand National with trainer Ted Walsh left neither “squealing or disappointed” by his run in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup.

The JP McManus-owned 11-year-old was beaten 15 lengths into fourth behind Galopin Des Champs at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Any Second Now was favourite when runner-up to Noble Yeats in the Grand National at Aintree last April, having finished third to Minella Times in the same race in 2021.

The 11-year-old has shown plenty of spark this term, beginning with a fine runner-up effort to Saint Sam over an extended two miles and three furlongs over hurdles on his seasonal debut on New Year’s Eve before his effort at the Dublin Racing Festival.

Walsh said: “He ran OK. I expected him to run as well as he ran – he ran to his rating.

“Look at the horses around him. He is a 162-rated horse. The horse that was third (Fury Road) was 158, the runner-up (Stattler) was 163, so he ran OK. He didn’t do anything I didn’t expect him to do.”

Any Second Now stayed on nicely despite being hampered by a faller at the second-last fence and will head to the Liverpool track in fine fettle. He is currently a general 16-1 second favourite for the National behind Noble Yeats.

Walsh dismissed the idea the run will have much effect on his weight for the extended four-and-a-quarter-mile Aintree spectacular, however.

“The handicapper won’t do anything,” he said. “The weight he has, he has. He is 162.

“The English handicapper might think he is a better horse around Liverpool and give him 2lb more, he might say he’s 11 years of age, so give him 2lb less, but that is all you are going to be talking about – a pound or two here or there. It is what it is.

“He’s in good nick and he’s happy. If he ran any worse than that, you’d be disappointed.

“The run was all right. I wasn’t coming away from Leopardstown squealing, but I wasn’t disappointed.

“I’d have been delighted altogether had he split the winner and the second. I’m a realist. I’m not an optimist or a pessimist – I’ve been at the game far too long for that.”

Any Second Now on course for third crack at National glory

/in /by

Ted Walsh believes Any Second Now will need plenty of luck to go one better than last year and win the Grand National.

The JP McManus-owned gelding was third behind Minella Times in the Aintree spectacular in 2021 and runner-up last year to Noble Yeats.

And Walsh, who saddled Papillon to victory in the race 23 years ago, knows the just-turned 11-year-old will do well to give him a second success.

Any Second Now returned to action over hurdles at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve, showing his well-being with a fair second to Saint Sam over an extended two miles and three furlongs.

It was the first step to another crack at the extended four-and-a-quarter-mile Grade Three prize at Aintree, and Walsh was satisfied with the performance.

He said: “He ran all right. That was what we expected him to do. He is going to be competing at the top table, so you want to be running well.

“He was due to run a couple of times earlier on, but each race was called off, so he was a little bit more advanced than he was for his first run last year. He’s grand, has taken it well and has taken everything in his stride from day one.

“He will definitely run twice more and maybe have three more runs before Aintree.

“He’s not after prize-money, but there’s nothing like a bit of competition.”

Ted Walsh feels it will be hard for Any Second Now to win the Grand National
Ted Walsh feels it will be hard for Any Second Now to win the Grand National (Mike Egerton/PA)

Walsh will undertake a familiar preparation towards a return to the Merseyside track in April, with Any Second Now likely to revert to fences next time.

“He might run at Leopardstown or he might run at Gowran Park at the end of the month, and he might run somewhere else after that,” said Walsh.

“He might run over fences, I don’t know if he’ll run over hurdles again. I’ll see what suits him, but he won’t run anywhere for a month.

“He’ll run somewhere in January, somewhere in February and somewhere in March. He’ll run at least twice, maybe three times.

“He’s quite a clear horse. I just think that’s the right preparation – maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what I’m doing, anyway.

“I don’t have a set pattern. Some horses take plenty and some horses don’t. He is lightly raced. He is in his seventh year here now and he’s has no more than 30 runs in his life.”

A gallant third after being badly hampered in the 2021 National, 12 months on and 7lb higher, he managed to push Noble Yeats to within a little over two lengths.

Yet the County Kildare handler feels last season’s Bobbyjo Chase winner will do well to replicate his previous good form at Aintree this year.

“He’s been unlucky not to win a National, but he probably won’t win one at this stage,” admitted Walsh.

“He was a bit unlucky the year they called it off because of Covid (2020) – he was well handicapped and is about 20lb higher now.

“Then he was unlucky to be (nearly) brought down in the year that (jockey) Rachael Blackmore won it. I’m not saying he would have won it, but he was unlucky.

“Then he was unlucky to run up against a well-handicapped young horse on the up last year.

Papillon, trained by Ted Walsh and ridden by his son, Ruby, landed the Grand National in 2000
Papillon, trained by Ted Walsh and ridden by his son, Ruby, landed the Grand National in 2000 (Owen Humphreys/PA)

“Worse horses have won the National. I know better horses have as well, but if luck had bounced his way, he could have won one.

“I doubt he can win one. I couldn’t see it. He has gone up a long way in the handicap and he’s certainly not going to get any better at 11 than he was at nine and 10.”

There has not been a winner of the National aged 10 or over since 11-year-old Pineau De Re scored in 2014 and Walsh says the lowering of the fences and the compression of the handicap in recent years has made the race a different test than in previous times.

“The National is not like it was,” he added. “When Red Rum won it, it wasn’t like when Reynoldstown won it. And when Tiger Roll won it, it wasn’t like when Red Rum won it.

“The last National to be run without aprons was in 1963 when Ayala won it. The National had no take-offs in front of the fences when he won it.

“These days, you don’t even know they are jumping Becher’s (Brook) now unless the commentator tells you they are jumping it. Nobody would know. They don’t even nod at the back of it.

Ted Walsh will hope he can land another Grand National 23 years after his first
Ted Walsh will hope he can land another Grand National 23 years after his first (PA)

“I’m old fashioned. I don’t think the changes are a good thing, but that’s neither here nor there. It is what it is.

“It is more of a stamina test than it was 20 years ago – a lot more. They never take the foot off the pedal.

“Years ago, the first thing all the jockeys will tell you is that they would hunt around the first round and then ride a race. Now they just jump out and it’s go-go-go.”