Horse Racing: O’Neill plans route until National for Don’t Push It
The trainer of horses Synchronised, Can’t Buy Time and Don’t Push It, Jonjo O’Neill is hoping for participation of Don’t Push It in a couple of more races before the colt returns to Aintree to compete for the title of the winner once more in April. Don’t
Push It won John Smith’s Grand National last year and is optimistic about achieving the same this year.
Trainer O’Neill, who showed off Don’t Push It along with Synchronised and Can’t Buy Time, who are both also hopeful candidates for participation in the Grand National on Wednesday, has been pondering over other options for Don’t Push It after the colt of
eleven years old had to skip out on a run at Warwick last weekend because he pulled a muscle in his back.
O’Neill was reported to have said that, “He (Don’t Push It) is back cantering. Ideally, I would like to get two more runs into him, the first in two weeks’ time, hopefully.”
He continued to say that he would not be averse to running him over the fences as Don’t Push It does not have a handicap mark on him to be careful about, also adding that just about the only races that Don’t Push It can run in over hurdles are the Pretemps
qualifiers.
O’Neill is proud of Synchronised’s Coral Welsh victory, which was quite rough on the racehorse, and is delighted by both his recovery and the colt’s 9 lb rather hefty ascent to 159 in rating. Trainer O’Neill has allowed him an entry in the Totesport Gold
Cup at Cheltenham.
Synchronised, who is currently only 8 years old, has recuperated quite speedily, according to his trainer who further informs reporters that the horse was rather exhausted and beaten up after his Midlands National victory just the year before but has improved
steadily and by this time, takes only a couple of races to really get back into shape and into the game.
“He’s more likely to go for the Midlands again, but he could even go for the Totesport Gold Cup if it was soft. He needs his own conditions”, comments and predicts trainer O’Neill about further plans for Synchronised and his chances at victory.
Both Don’t Push It and Synchronised are among Totesport’s co-favourites at 20-1 for John Smith’s Grand National’s title at Aintree, this April.
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