past winners

Scottish Grand National winner Beshabar will be trained with only one race in mind this season with the John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree in April being absolutely top of the agenda for his up-and-coming trainer, writes Elliot Slater.

Beshabar
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Upwardly mobile throughout the last couple of seasons, the nine-year-old had been expected to bid for the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in November, but Vaughan has signalled that his stable star is an unlikely runner in the prestigious autumn staying event with the current plan being to protect his handicap mark and not race over fences before the publication of the Grand National weights in mid-February.

This ploy has been adopted successfully by subsequent Grand National winners on a number of occasions in recent years and Vaughan intends to give Beshabar an outing over hurdles in January to sharpen him up before returning him to the larger obstacles once the handicapper is not in a position to reassess the gelded son of Flemensfirsth. A visit to the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival then bravely made most of the running to beat Merigo in a thrilling renewal of the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr in April. People looking for a Grand National free bets offer might want to bear this in mind.

Generally on offer at 20/1 to follow up in the ‘world’s greatest steeplechase’ at Aintree next year, Beshabar remains very much a horse to keep on the right side this term.