Tag Archive for: Le Milos

Peter Fahey confident The Big Dog has big National chance

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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.”

Le Milos leaves Skelton taking plenty of positives from weekend reverse

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Dan Skelton has Le Milos “perfectly where I want him” ahead of his tilt at the Randox Grand National – despite his annoyance the Coral Gold Cup hero was agonisingly denied in his Aintree prep at Kelso.

The Alcester-based handler made no secret of the fact he had left a bit to work on ahead of Le Milos’ run in the Listed Premier Chase on Saturday, but the 10-11 favourite looked set to oblige when his class took him clear of the field heading to the last.

Having been off the track since scoring at Newbury in November, fitness took its toll in the closing stages and despite hitting the basement price of 1.01 on the exchanges in running, Sandy Thomson’s Empire Steel ran on strongly to mug Skelton’s Aintree candidate in the shadow of the post.

Although disappointed not to leave the Scottish borders with victory, Skelton knows exactly how much of the screw needs to be tightened before he embarks on his Merseyside mission and is confident the eight-year-old will arrive in Liverpool at the peak of his powers.

He said: “It was a good prep run, but it was gutting to get beat when we were ahead three strides before the line – that was fairly annoying.

“That happens and I made no secret beforehand the horse was going to improve for the run. I did think five strides before the last that perhaps he might get away with it, but it was very obvious on landing that he took a massive blow.

“It is a bit frustrating to get beat, but you can see the horse is in great health and he jumped and travelled round there really well, which was just what I wanted to see.”

Le Milos and connections after winning the Coral Gold Cup
Le Milos and connections after winning the Coral Gold Cup (PA)

He went on: “We’ve got a bit of work to do now, which we always knew we were going to have, but he is perfectly where I want him in terms of Grand National preparation.

“That race will do him 10 per cent of the work and then there’s a few more per cent to work on, but I will make sure he’s ready.

“Corach Rambler is obviously one of the favourites and there are a few others in there, but we’re one of the more prominent in the betting from the English team and we will be going there to fly the flag and do our best.”

Le Milos leading National charge for Skelton – and could be joined by Ashtown Lad

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Dan Skelton could be set for a two-pronged assault on the Randox Grand National, with both Le Milos and Ashtown Lad catching the eye among the 85 entries for the April 15 contest.

Only 31 of the possible runners for the Merseyside marathon hail from British trainers, but both of the Lodge Hill contenders strike as live candidates for the Aintree showpiece judged on their exploits before Christmas when landing the Coral Gold Cup and Becher Chase respectively.

The duo are now now being prepared to run again over the next few weeks, with Le Milos set to complete his National preparation in Kelso’s Premier Chase – a race which has been used by the likes of Ballabriggs and Many Clouds to tune up for Aintree in the past – while Ashtown Lad will head to Ascot on February 18 before a final decision on his participation is made.

“They are both really well and we’ve had no problems at all,” said Skelton.

Le Milos and jockey Harry Skelton (centre) coming home to win the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury
Le Milos and jockey Harry Skelton (centre) coming home to win the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury (John Walton/PA)

“Le Milos goes to Kelso on March 4 for the Premier Chase and Ashtown Lad hopefully runs next at Ascot in the Swinley Handicap Chase, and then we will have a think about what we do with him.

“Le Milos will go to Kelso and then straight to the Grand National. I’m very happy with him.

“Ashtown Lad is proven over the fences, but there is a question mark over the trip. The plan is to run him next Saturday and then have a proper think about it.”

The Irish have dominated the Grand National in recent years winning the last four and five of the last six runnings. They are responsible for almost two thirds of the initial entries this time around with entries from the home team thin on the ground.

However, the man responsible for two of the better-fancied British runners believes the lack of numbers could be due to trainers having to be more selective with their entries.

“We’ve got two nice entries,” explained Skelton. “The Grand National is unique, you have to stay the trip number one and you have to be appropriate for the fences.

“It costs £950 at the first stage and I think the down on numbers entry is reflective of the whole situation at the moment. People have to be responsible with their entries, you can’t just fire anything in. Perhaps people are just being a bit more delicate with their entries.”