'This is a perfect race for him' - Grand National clues in Premier Chase

While there are potentially 100,000 reasons to focus on the placing of Mctigue this weekend in the Morebattle Hurdle, The Shunter may be a more inspired bit of campaigning from trainer Emmet Mullins.

Horses entered in the Grand National have until March 28 to finish in the first four in a chase over two miles, seven and a half furlongs or further. The Shunter still has not achieved that and, given he is rated 152, he will not get an easier opportunity than the Premier Chase the way it has cut up. Ga Law, who is in a similar situation but was not declared, will have to make the frame in the Gold Cup. 

Sounds Russian does not have to qualify for the National, but he was not declared and also presumably now goes to the Gold Cup. That leaves five runners, one of whom (Zanza) has a first-preference option at Newbury the same afternoon. All The Shunter may need to do is get round to qualify for Aintree and expectations should possibly be influenced a little by that knowledge, especially given he has not run since November.

Le Milos has been off for nearly as long, although his approach is less about ticking off Grand National criteria and more treading the path set by Cloth Cap. That horse had a midwinter break after winning the Coral Gold Cup in 2020 and primed for Aintree with a win in this race. Le Milos comes into the Premier Chase rated higher, both on BHA and Racing Post Ratings, and would appear to face a much easier task. If he is close to fit, and assumptions made above about Zanza and The Shunter hold, it is hard to see past him.

Le Milos concedes 4lb to the other two runners in the field, Wishing And Hoping and Empire Steel, which would bring both horses into the reckoning purely on ratings. Wishing And Hoping won the Veterans' Series Final at Sandown last time and his main advantage would likely be a tactical one, as he is an enthusiastic front runner even though he is now in his teens.

Empire Steel is a real course specialist. His three runs at Kelso have been the three best of his career, 7lb clear of anything else he has achieved. While that does make him faintly interesting, he would be 7lb better off with Le Milos in a handicap so for him to win may rely on a big-name raider from the Dan Skelton yard flopping at Kelso, which is exactly what he benefitted from when beating Protektorat here in February 2021.
Race analysis by Keith Melrose

Skelton hoping 'perfect race' can provide prep for Aintree

Two Grand National winners in the past 12 years have warmed up by running in Kelso's most prestigious chase of the season and Dan Skelton is hoping Le Milos can emulate Ballabriggs and Many Clouds.

Le Milos has been at the forefront of Aintree calculations ever since his game victory in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury, where he finished nine lengths clear of Corach Rambler who is the only British-trained horse ahead of him in the ante-post betting.

He travelled and jumped that day in the style of a horse who should take to the challenge of the National. The fact he is an eight-year-old who has won four of his last five starts suggests he is on the up and still has more to offer.

It may be 280 miles from Alcester to Kelso but his trainer is not averse to travelling and has long earmarked this Listed contest as the stepping stone to Liverpool, at a meeting where he has won the Grade 2 novice hurdle with My Drogo and had Faivoir placed in two Morebattle Hurdles in the past two years.

Skelton said: "I'm very happy with him and this is a perfect race for him. He's fit enough but there is a lot of improvement in him."

The Shunter: won on this card in 2021Credit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

Shunter back at scene of valuable triumph

He is back to bid for another big prize, although this visit is unlikely to prove quite as lucrative as the one he made two years ago.

No horse did more to advertise the value of Kelso's revamped March meeting – and the shrewdness of up-and-coming Irish trainer Emmet Mullins – than The Shunter in 2021.

Not only did he land the feature £100,000 Morebattle Hurdle, going off a hot 5-2 favourite and putting a smile on thousands of punters' faces. He went on to scoop a £100,000 bonus by following up in the Plate over fences at Cheltenham just 12 days later.

The Shunter has been campaigned in hurdles, chases and on the Flat since then and has not run since finishing fourth in the November Handicap at Naas.

Jockey Donagh Meyler said: "He has been a bit of a local hero around Kelso before and he has good spring form so hopefully he can bring that back to the table. I haven't ridden him on the track before but have seen him plenty at home and he is a nice horse who stays well."

What they say

Sandy Thomson, trainer of Empire Steel
He ran very well round Kelso then went to Sandown and probably wasn't quite right. It looks as though there will be four runners and I hope he can upset them.

Mel Rowley, trainer of Wishing And Hoping
He's in very good form and he was fantastic at Sandown last time. He's in such good form, I hope he'll hold his own here. Before Sandown he'd always shown better form on better ground so I'm not worried about the going.
Reporting by David Carr

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