Ballyfoy all set for Eider Chase – Horse Racing Update
Trainer Jamie Poulton will be crossing his fingers for luck and hoping that misfortune stays away, as he excitedly prepares his horse Ballyfoy for a much anticipated run in the Totesport Eider Chase at Newcastle on Saturday.
The Eider Chase is a marathon that has been portrayed as the ideal race by experts, for Ballyfoy, who is a horse of ten years and unfortunately missed a chance with the event twelve months ago, when the race was cancelled.
The fixture, which will be held on the weekend, is subject to an inspection at 8 a.m. on the morning of the race but, just as last year, trainer Poulton set forth on Friday to complete a journey towards the north, of about 360 miles from his stables in east
Sussex. The trainer was completely satisfied and more than just a little pleased with Ballyfoy’s eighth to one position, which was just a single spot behind the successive Grand National Trail champion Silver By Nature, in the Coral Welsh National last month.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Poulton expressed more disappointment towards the way the race was run, rather than at the outcome of the meet. He said that the way the Welsh National was run was quite upsetting as the participants in the race changed their
pace from really slow which built into a much faster one, which Ballyfoy was not able to keep up with. The trainer said that the horse was more suited to an even gallop but even so, he managed to close the distance between himself and Silver By Nature to just
about the length of a neck.
Ballyfoy is all set to take part at the same racecourse and the trainer is hopeful that he has adapted to the conditions by now. The trainer’s confidence also lies in the fact that Matthew Batchelor, who is also known as Mattie, is the jockey assigned for
Ballyfoy; Batchelor has ridden the horse before.
Batchelor was not able to ride Ballyfoy in a novice hurdle last time because of an injury, but he believes the horse has incredible stamina and that he will enjoy the race.
Sponsor William Hill have recently put Ballyfoy’s odds with Comply Or Die at 11-1. Comply Or Die, who managed to win the Eider three years ago and proceeded to win the Grand National. Minella Boys, trained by Charlie Longsdon, is the 7-2 Hill favourite for
the race.
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