David Pipe’s Junior is building up towards a racecourse return as connections plot a route towards the Grand National at Aintree in April.
The nine-year-old has completed a rare double during his career by winning the Ascot Stakes at the Royal meeting and the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival. He was last seen finishing down the field in the same Royal Ascot prize last June and is set for a return to the track in the near future.
However, although he has been given an entry in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Tim Palin, racing manager for owners Middleham Park Racing, does not expect him to line up if Long Run and Kauto Star are in the field.
“We gave him the Gold Cup entry mainly in case something happens to one or both of the big two. If that were to happen, the race would obviously be thrown wide open,” said Palin.
“Junior is in good form. We gave him a super-long break after Royal Ascot, where he was a bit disappointing, but we felt he was maybe a bit over the top having had a hard race in the Kim Muir. Hopefully he’s going to come back fresh and well and David feels he is physically much better now than when he went out into the field.
“We have a few options for a comeback run. There is the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock on February 18. He wouldn’t want very testing ground but if it happened to come up good to soft, he could well run in that.
“If we miss that there is the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster, which is after the weights for the National are out. There is also the option of running in a race at Kelso that Ballabriggs ran in last year before he won the National, so we have options.
“If for some reason none of those races were suitable, I suppose he could have a spin round in the Gold Cup as there is an extra week between Cheltenham and the National this year.”
Another potential National contender for Middleham Park is Gordon Elliott’s Backstage, who was well beaten in the race when well fancied last year.
“He’s been point-to-pointing and the plan is the Foxhunter at Cheltenham. He might have one more run in a point-to-point and we’ll see how he gets on. I’d imagine he’ll run in the Grand National again, but I think the days of us getting excited about Backstage running at Aintree are behind us,” Palin added.
Tags: Cheltenham Festival, Cheltenham Gold Cup, David Pipe, Gold Cup, Gordon Elliott, Grand National, ID, Kauto Star, Kim Muir, Long Run, NH, PA, racing, Royal Ascot
Not logged in