David Pipe’s Junior will bid to complete a quite incredible treble by landing the Grand National at Aintree.
The nine-year-old has always had a touch of class to go with his quirky character, but his owners, Middleham Park Racing, could not have dreamed of the success enjoyed since buying him out of Alan King’s yard for almost two years ago.
Less than a month after he was snapped up by the highly successful syndicate, Junior tasted Royal Ascot success in the Ascot Stakes.
The following March, the gelding struck gold at the Cheltenham Festival with a runaway victory in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup.
Connections had hoped he would be able to compete in that year’s Grand National but as he did not make the final field for the world’s most famous steeplechase, that dream was put on hold for 12 months.
With his place in the National field already guaranteed at the start of this season, Junior did not make his return until running respectably in a hurdle race at Newbury in mid-February.
After the release of the Grand National weights, Junior ran a perfect trial for the big one when narrowly beaten back over fences in the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster.
There had been discussions about running him in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but on reflection, Middleham Park racing manager Tim Palin feels it was a wise decision not to return to Prestbury Park.
“There have been no hiccups with him, thankfully, and we’re all looking forward to April 14,” said Palin.
“We worked out it is 42 days between his last run at Doncaster and the National and David said he would work backwards from April 14.
“He actually schooled (over a National-style fence) last year without any problems, so he’ll be doing that again.
“My personal opinion when we were talking about plans for him a while back was that we should have a go at the Gold Cup, rather than running in the Grimthorpe.
“I just thought he could enjoy himself and maybe finish fifth or six and we’d all be happy.
“But actually, having watched the Gold Cup, the way it worked out we might actually have been right in the thick of it and ended up having a harder race that we would have wanted, so perhaps it’s worked out for the best.
“Of course, it would have been great to have a runner in the Gold Cup, but we didn’t want to get blown off the scent and it is all about the Grand National.
“I’m not saying he’s going to win, as there will be plenty of other horses in there hoping to do it, but that is the race we feel he has the best chance of winning.”
