Foxhunter Chase favourite Backstage remains firmly on course for next month’s Cheltenham Festival following his sixth victory in the point-to-point sphere this season at the weekend.
Gordon Elliott’s 10-year-old came home in 10th position when a leading fancy for last year’s Grand National and while a return to Aintree is on his agenda, his primary target is the Foxhunter Chase for which he is a best-priced 6-1.
He continued his prolific campaign with a victory at Ballydarragh on Sunday and Tim Palin, racing manager for part-owners Middleham Park Racing, is excited about his Festival prospects.
“He did it well at the weekend, as he usually does in that grade,” Palin said.
“This time 12 months ago the Grand National was Plan A for him, but this season the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham is his Derby.
“Hopefully he can run well there and then go back to Aintree, where he should still get in the National on a competitive weight.
“It’s always difficult to know what they’ve achieved in these point-to-points, but personally I’d like to think he’s running to a mark of around 130.
“If he can run up to that sort of rating at the Festival, then he should be competitive.
“The horse should be going there full of confidence and we’re looking forward to it.
“I think he goes there with as good a chance as anything else in the race.”
Middleham Park’s major Grand National hope this time around is, of course, pre-post favourite Junior.
Already a Festival winner himself having landed last season’s Kim Muir, he is nearing a return to competitive action, with a hurdle race currently being favoured for his comeback.
“We have plenty of options with him and it is just a case of picking the best one,” Palin said.
“He’s in the Grand National Trial at Haydock on February 18 and there is also the option of running him in a hurdle race that day.
“We obviously gave him the entry in the Gold Cup as well and we have actually entered him in a three-mile (4800m) handicap hurdle at Newbury this Saturday.
“Nothing is definite but at the moment, I think we’re favouring running him in a three-mile handicap hurdle somewhere on decent ground, as his mark over hurdles has actually dropped.
“He’s rated 145 now and off that mark, even if he were to win, the handicapper shouldn’t really raise his chase mark of 153 any higher.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about the Grand National with him and we’ll give him one or two runs before then, just picking the best options.
“We don’t want to give him a hard race on testing ground, so we’ll be looking for a bit of decent ground somewhere.”
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