Walsh in no rush to name Seabass National jockey
Walsh in no rush to name Seabass National jockey
Betfair Grand National – 5
Ted Walsh, trainer of the 2000 John Smith’s Grand National winner Papillon and father of jockeys Ruby and Katie, has never been one frightened of setting the cat amongst the pigeons but is refusing to rush into making a decision as to who will partner his red-hot Seabass in the big race at Aintree on April 14, writes Elliot Slater.
Seabass has rattled up an amazing sequence of seven consecutive victories since January 2010 that have seen him rise from being a moderate 95-rated staying handicapper to defy a rating of 144 when landing the Grade 2 Paddypower.com Chase at Naas in February when partnered by Ruby Walsh. The Walsh family are refusing to be drawn at this stage as to who will ride which horse at Aintree, Ruby having the choice of five possible runners for his retained Irish yard of Willie Mullins, including the well fancied On His Own and The Midnight Club, as well as also being a possible candidate to ride Neptune Collonges for his guv’nor in Britain, Paul Nicholls.
Should Ruby be claimed to ride elsewhere it would appear all but certain that Katie Walsh will step into the breach and take the ride on Seabass, a horse she partnered to victory in the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase at Limerick in December, and then again in the prestigious Leopardstown Handicap Chase the following month when the pair proved nearly eight-lengths too good for Out Now.
Should she come in for the ride on her father’s bang in-form nine-year-old, Katie Walsh would be on board one of the best fancied horses ever to be partnered by a lady rider in the Grand National, a horse bookmakers rate a very best priced horse race betting 16/1 shot to make the fictional story of the late Elizabeth Taylor and National Velvet come true more than seventy years after the famous move first hit the screens. Whether this fairytale will come true and make some fo the Grand National 2012 betting pundits overjoyed is yet to be seen.
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UK Horse Racing Tips | joe April 5, 2012