I find myself thinking about Little Polveir, which is something to be grateful for. He was a game little beast who won the Scottish Grand National in 1987 and followed up in the real thing at Aintree two years later, when he led from halfway and ran on strongly up the run-in, seeing off late challenges by two big names, West Tip and The Thinker.
Surely Little Polveir has also been in the recent thoughts of Darren Yates, who, it was revealed on Monday, has bought Blaklion in the hope of seeing his colours carried to victory in the National. Buying a 10-year-old staying chaser is an act of pure optimism that will never make Forbes’s list of ‘Ten Smart Things You Should Really Be Doing With Your Money’, so my hat is off to Yates, who clearly has a high opinion of this kind of horse and must therefore have been brought up the right way.
Blaklion had a very fruitful early career, winning half of his first 16 races for Nigel Twiston-Davies, including the RSA at the 2016 Festival. But that kind of run is very hard to sustain and his subsequent record is 1/14, although the win came in the Becher Chase and he has also been fourth in a National.
As much as we may admire him, Blaklion hasn’t got within 11 lengths of a winner in the past year. If you buy him, you’re taking on an annual expense of £20,000 or more, with no real likelihood of a return.
But there’s the dream. Blaklion, after all, has only had two failed tilts at the National. Little Polveir was 12 and making his fourth assault on the race when he finally won it, 30 years ago, bringing great joy into the life of his new owner, who had bought him just six weeks earlier. Then again, Little Polveir only cost 15,000 guineas. Even allowing for inflation, that’s a lot less than Blaklion will have cost (unconfirmed, but believed to be well into six figures).
Yates reportedly made £500,000 from a £60 bet when Frankie Dettori went through the card at Ascot in 1996 and then used the money to build a property development company, so optimism has served him well. Good luck to him and Phil Kirby, who will now train the horse.
“It’s very exciting to have a horse like him join the yard,” Kirby said on Racing TV yesterday, “as the aim for us is to get the better horses and in turn go for the better races. The deal was only finalised this morning.”
Kirby could be on the mark at Wetherby on Tuesday with Magic Dragon (4.00), a 9-2 shot. He scored on his handicap debut at Sedgefield last month, when the fitting of cheekpieces helped him travel quite strongly into the argument, and should have plenty more to give after a 5lbs rise. Kirby said at the time that the horse had just begun to impress him in the previous 10 days.
At Taunton, Quiz Master (3.45) is of interest at 6-1 in a winnable novice handicap chase. He looks exposed over hurdles but his pedigree suggests Colin Tizzard’s charge can take another step forward on this first try over fences.
Dawn Crusade (8.00) is the pick of the evening card at Wolverhampton, on offer at 6-4 to improve on her debut second in this novice race for fillies. She ran well despite greenness under a claimer on her debut and can take a step forward for the in-form Charlie Appleby.
Wetherby 1.55 Baileys Artist 2.25 Kalahari Queen 2.55 Coolanly 3.30 Generous Day (nb) 4.00 Magic Dragon 4.35 Strong Resemblance 5.05 Zoutoise
Taunton 2.10 Iniesta 2.40 Scaramanga 3.10 Midnightreferendum 3.45 Quiz Master 4.15 Encore Champs 4.50 Danboru 5.20 Princess Midnight
Wolverhampton 5.30 Rainbow Lad 6.00 Aguerooo 6.30 Upavon 7.00 Amor Fati 7.30 Beauty Salon 8.00 Dawn Crusade (nap)
8.30 Jouvert
