Could Niche Market be profitable in Grand National?
The Irish Grand National has proved a popular route to the John Smith’s Grand National in recent years.
Bobbyjo and Papillon fought out the finish at Fairyhouse before winning at Aintree in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and Numbersixvalverde landed the double in 2005 and 2006 during what was a dominant period for Irish-trained runners in both races. The home defence of the Irish National was breached last April when Niche Market won for Somerset-based trainer Bob Buckler and he is one of the market leaders for this year’s National.
Buckler comes from a farming background and started riding and training on the local point-to-point circuit for himself and friends, during which time he rode 37 winners, with the highlight being the victory on Buckhorn in a hunter chase at Ascot in April, 1990.
From those small steps, Buckler made the journey through the training ranks, beginning his career under Rules with ex-pointers in 1991 and he rose to prominence with Carbonate, who landed a brace of handicap chases in just two weeks in 1993. Emboldened by that success Buckler took out his full licence the following year and continued to impress with his limited resources.
There were still some high-profile winners but they were punctuated by viruses and in the summer of 2008 Buckler moved his string to new facilities at Higher Peckmoor, near Crewkerne.
The trainer is no stranger to success over Aintree’s Grand National fences, having sent out I Hear Thunder to victory in the Grand Sefton Handicap Chase in 2006, and he is loading both barrels this year with The Sawyer, a winner at both Ascot and Cheltenham this season, running in the John Smith's Topham Chase the day before Niche Market runs in the National.
Niche Market was himself a product of the pointing scene before being bought by Buckler for £20,000 as a prospective chaser. The highlight of his first season over fences came with a good fourth behind Old Benny in the National Hunt Chase at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival but a first win under Rules (Niche Market did win at Exeter but was demoted to second after a stewards’ inquiry) remained out of reach.
That came at Ascot in December 2008 when Niche Market won a valuable handicap at Ascot and he ended last season with the biggest success of his career – and Buckler’s - by beating Church Island by two lengths in the Irish Grand National.
Niche Market ran a fine trial for Aintree when he was third to Denman in the Hennessy Gold Cup, at Newbury in November, and he returned there for his next two starts with two contrasting results; fading to come home last in a graduation chase in December before going down by a short-head to Tricky Trickster in the Grade Two Aon Chase in February, after which both horses became prominent in the market for the National.
A final prep run, in the William Hill Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival last month, may not have looked that promising as Niche Market again faded to finish ninth behind Chief Dan George, but Buckler felt that the horse “ran a perfect Aintree prep race.
“He’s one of those horses who, if you had to try and tick all the boxes for National credentials, he would have most of them ticked. He’s got enough speed, he’s not just an old slogger in the mud, he doesn’t want bottomless ground, he jumps well, he stays,” Buckler said as he assembled the identikit Grand National contender “and he’s got a bit of class.”
That is probably just as well because Niche Market has 11st 4lb and no horse has carried more than that to victory since Grittar humped 11st 5lb round to win in 1982. “You always hope for a couple of pounds less but it had to happen really,” he said.
Buckler has never had a runner in the National before and has admitted that the build-up to the big day has been something new for his small yard. “You can sense it in the yard,” he said. “All the lads are that little bit perkier and talking about it. It’s very exciting and it’s also bloody worrying.”
One worry that he hopefully will not have this time will be the return trip he had after the win in Ireland when, after some enthusiastic celebrations, he missed the ferry home the next morning and embarked on “an interesting journey home.”
If he wins on Saturday he should at least remember the route back to Somerset.
Bob Buckler’s Grand National record: no previous runners.
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