Ben Pauling column including big Aintree hope Global Citizen
Global Citizen is Ben Pauling's leading Aintree contender and the trainer talks us through his chances at the Grand National Festival.
I've not been running an awful lot of horses lately because of the ground and frankly it's been the worst I can remember.
There's nothing more dull than going on about the weather but this year has tested us all and for me personally it's been a very frustrating second half of the season. It was bottomless at Cheltenham and it seems to have been bottomless ever since, so we've had around seven weeks of solid rain.
But it is what it is and with Aintree currently Good to Soft, Soft in places, plus more showers forecast, we know what we're getting this week.
On the plus side, my highest profile runner Global Citizen has won on soft on his penultimate start and he made it two from two for us when bolting up at Kempton, where he beat Scarlet Dragon. The runner-up reopposes and is entitled to come on for his first run over hurdles, but it's not like we only beat him a length.
We've targeted this race for Global Citizen ever since and although we had a good ground Aintree in mind, he couldn't be in better shape. His work since Kempton has been exceptional and if he runs a similar race to last time then hopefully he's going to be hard to beat.
We think Aintree will be his track and in a way it's shame there's isn't a two-mile championship race for established hurdlers at this meeting for him next year.
He jumps a fence fabulously and has obviously won a point-to-point but I'd like to think we'd be keeping him over hurdles next season and aiming at one or two Champion Hurdle trials to see where we are with him.
I'll be keeping a lot of my horses on the go this year and you're likely to see plenty running well into May, but Global Citizen deserves a good summer break so this will be his final run of the season.
I'd considered the three mile Grade One for Kildisart but given the conditions we're going to stick with two and a half and run in the Betway Mersey Novices' Hurdle on Saturday.
One or two people have said he doesn't jump well enough to win at this kind of level but I'm not sure that's fair. He was going nicely at Ascot and then he bundled the last at Kempton when still able to win, I just think he's still a bit novicey.
That experience in big handicaps should actually stand him in good stead back in novice company and I have real confidence in him running a big race. I'm not going to claim his form is strong enough to be beating On The Blind Side and horses like that, but it's been a cracking season for him and it'd be the icing on the cake to nick some prize money here.
Skidoosh is another Grade One hope for the team in Friday's Weatherbys Racing Bank Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.
He’s a horse that didn’t surprise me as such when he won his first bumper, but he always went about his job in a nice, quiet fashion at home.
He did it well on the track and the race at Worcester worked out very well. Then he got stuck in the mud at Cheltenham in November, while he was very brave in second at Doncaster when trying to give a penalty away.
I think he deserves his chance in this. He’s got loads of speed and though the ground won’t be ideal he should be able to run well. If he's in the first five or six I'd be thrilled. He looks a million dollars, it's just his speed might be blunted - that'd be my only warning.
Cyrius Moriviere seems unlikely to get into the valuable two and a half mile handicap on Friday but he's bounced back to form on his last couple of runs and he's not badly handicapped now. He's in really good order and if he doesn't make the cut then he's likely to go for the boys' race on Saturday.
We've decided to go to Ayr with A Hare Breath for the Scottish Champion Hurdle. It's a decent race but it's a handicap and he wouldn't be without a chance if bringing his A-game. He might just get better ground up at Ayr.
Red Indian and Jaleo will both run in the Gaskells Handicap Hurdle over three miles Aintree on Saturday.
Red Indian has worn his heart on his sleeve and he's been dead unlucky not to win a big one this season, having run so well in the Lanzarote and he was a good sixth in the Coral Cup. He could relish the step up in trip and he won’t care how wet it is.
Jaleo ran well in in second soft enough ground at Bangor. He’s come back to himself and he’ll have Alex’s (Ferguson) claim. He didn’t get off to the best start this season - being an ex-Flat horse they’re not always the hardest types so they need to be feeling good - and he's now looking really well.
I had suggested Barters Hill might be aimed towards Aintree but after his Newbury comeback on testing ground we weren't too keen to go back to the well on soft. We’ve decided to wait a bit longer and hang for better conditions.
Meanwhile, stable star Willoughby Court has made great steps towards recovery after his setback. We decided our season was gone with him before Cheltenham and he's here looking extremely well - roll on next season as far as he's concerned!
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