A leap into the great unknown is almost the only choice for the owners of Bashboy following a second Grand National Steeplechase win at Sandown that qualified him as easily the best of his kind in Australia.
Bashboy’s commanding victory came under 72.5kg, the most weight carried by a Grand National winner since 1957.
Bashboy, Steven Pateman - Photo by Sharon Chapman
And the clear impression was that he could have carried more and won the 4500m test by further.
The win made Ciaron Maher the first trainer to claim the premier steeplechase three times in a row, while Bashboy became the seventh to win consecutive runnings of a race in which he maintained his unbeaten seven-win record over fences.
For all that, the dominant emotion for all the horse’s connections was relief.
“The expectation was really high,” Maher said.
“He was the best horse, he was supposed to win, but it’s a huge relief to have him back safe.”
Bashboy ($1.65 fav) won the Grand National by 3-3/4 lengths, an effort that, when combined with the massive weight he carried, makes his future in Australia difficult.
“We’ll have to sit down and think about where we go,” Maher said.
“Obviously the option is there to go to England, but it’s not an easy thing to do.
“There is just so much that you don’t know.
“He would have to get there and we’d have to then see how he handled, it … what sort of weight they gave him, what sort of races he’d be qualified for.”
Maher said his ideal would be to keep Bashboy to races of around 4800m, the distance of the major English set weights `chases.
It would rule out, perhaps thankfully, the English Grand National in which he would have to carry an automatic handicap of 76kg over 7100m.
“I don’t think he’d have any trouble with the bigger jumps over there, but we’ll just have to talk about it,” Maher said.
“There’s no decision made yet.”
Bashboy did almost all the work by himself on Sunday, settling outside the early leader Riviera Star and breaking that horse’s heart as he strode past him up the hill the second time.
With 1000m to run and three to jump, Bashboy was cruising in front with only the third placegetter Chaparro in touch with him and with runner-up Kirribilli Gold the only one making ground from the back.
But faultless jumps at the final fences carried Bashboy to a safe and virtually unthreatened victory.
