Talking Horses: One For Arthur 'better than before 2017 Grand National'

One For Arthur is having a better buildup to April’s Grand National than in the year he won the race, his trainer suggested on Wednesday. Fife-based Lucinda Russell is enthused about the veteran’s chances and hopes to see a big run from him when he lines up at Haydock on Saturday, his first outing after a wind operation.

So much debate has been focused on Tiger Roll since the weights were published on Tuesday that it could be said none of the remaining 102 entrants are getting the attention they deserve. But it may be a mistake to overlook One For Arthur, whose handicap rating has dropped to 148, the same rating from which he won the 2017 National by four lengths.

A tendon injury kept him off the track for the next 20 months and he has had just five runs since but Russell said: “In my mind, he’s better than he was before he won the National, at the same stage of the season. The runup that we’ve had, he’s been feeling great. When he came back in the summer he was better then than he’s ever been and I think he’s continued that.”

When last seen, One For Arthur was fifth in the Becher, just as he was in the season of his Aintree success, and the Racing Post rated it as a 5lb better effort this time. Russell’s partner, the former champion jockey Peter Scudamore, felt that One For Arthur was held back by a breathing problem in the last half-mile of the Becher.

“He’s come there with every chance and just faded,” Scudamore said on Wednesday. “I think now he’s had his wind done, he’ll find it easier to gallop to the line.” There was encouragement to be taken from One For Arthur’s effort when sixth in last year’s National, but Scudamore reckons his breathing may also have been an issue then. “He had a difficult preparation but I don’t blame that so much. I think he was fit by the time we got to Aintree, I just think his wind was beginning to catch him.”

One For Arthur is set to carry just 10st 2lb in this year’s National, just 2lb above the minimum weight, which Russell described as “fantastic”. The smaller Tiger Roll must shoulder 11st 10lb, meaning One For Arthur is more than a stone better off with that rival than a year ago.

Leicester
2.00
Vocaliser 2.30 Everlanes (nap) 3.00 Caltex 3.30 First Flow (nb) 4.00 Donatello Mail 4.30 Kashmir Peak

Chelmsford
5.30 Garsman 6.00 William Ashford 6.30 Grandee Daisy 7.00 Solar Heights 7.30 Lucky’s Dream 8.00 Pitcher’s Point 8.30 Temujin

But before they clash once more, One For Arthur’s connections hope to see a big effort from him at Haydock, where he will wear cheekpieces for the first time. “We want to give him a run to just sharpen him up a bit,” Russell said. “Whereas in the past we always wanted to give him a run from a fitness point of view. But this is just to sharpen his jumping up.”

“He’s training well,” added Scudamore. “I don’t think he’s lost a lot of pace, not that he had a lot in the first place. He’s not sour, he’s moving well. He works with slow horses and he works quite well with them.”

source: theguardian.com