Notachance looks a staying chaser with a future after slogging his way to victory in the Classic Chase here, comfortably outlasting his dozen rivals in a race that became an attritional test. But the Grand National, which is naturally the first target to be considered for such a horse, is not on the agenda for this year at least, according to the winning trainer, Alan King.
“I would imagine we’ll go for the Scottish National,” said the Lanarkshire-born King. Asked about Aintree, he added: “He won’t go to Liverpool. I don’t like the race and neither do the owners.”
That was a reference to Tim Leadbeater, part-owner of Notachance, who was also involved in West End Rocker, an early faller in the 2012 National. “We didn’t have a very nice experience with him,” King recalled. “It took us ages to find him. They said ‘never again’, so I don’t think they’ll let me run this one in it. And he’s too young anyway.
“I’ve had runners in the National before and I probably will again. But Halcon Genelardais’s owners would never let me run him in it and he would have been ideal.”
One firm priced up Notachance at 25-1 for the Aintree race, putting him among the more obvious potential winners, but most bookmakers noted King’s comments and left him out of their lists. The trainer’s point about age has some force, as Notachance is just seven, younger than any National winner since 1940.
The more immediate significance of this victory is the fillip it gives to the developing relationship between King and his 29-year-old principal jockey, Tom Cannon, who judged this nicely, settling Notachance on the rail, within sight of the hard‑working pacesetters but not right on their tails.
Warwick’s tight turns can pose a risk to those on the inner, as was seen in the very next race, but Cannon steered a canny course around the fading leader at the final bend, getting out from behind him just in time to avoid being shut in by closers on his outside.
King was inclined to fret that Cannon had lit the fuse too early. “I was glad when the winning line came. It was a long way from the last,” the trainer said, cheerfully.
But the jockey knew what he was about. “They sort of fell apart around me,” Cannon said. “And he kept going at the same pace he’d been going at the start. I think he makes it look harder work than it is because he doesn’t do a lot in front. But I’m sure if the other horse came to him, he would have picked up.”
Southwell 1.05 Fast Emma (nb) 1.35 Ghost Rider (nap) 2.05 Thrave 2.35 Chipiron 3.05 Maykir 3.35 Zylan 4.05 Nick Vedder
Kelso abandoned due to waterlogging
Achille ran a huge race to be second on his first start since the end of 2019 and perhaps the 11-year-old has another prize in him before retirement. But the race did not work out so well for Walk In The Mill, who dropped out of contention after making a couple of mistakes. He was fourth in the 2019 National and has twice won the Becher Chase over those famous green fences but he fell at Aintree last month and it looks as though his best days are behind him.
Le Breuil stayed on dourly to be a distant third, leaving connections with a race against time to get him a higher rating before the weights for the National are set in mid‑February. Their fear is that he may miss the cut for this year’s race if left on his current handicap mark and the plan at the moment is to go to Haydock next month in hope of a better effort that would shift him up a few pounds.
