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Stormin Exit Aiming to Enhance Goldie's Record in Grand Sefton
17/11/11

Jim Goldie is set to bid for a third victory in the £50,000 Betfred Grand Sefton Handicap Chase (3.25pm) with talented chaser Stormin Exit on course for the extended two mile and five-furlong contest at Aintree on Betfred Becher Chase Grand National Trials Day, which takes place this season on its new date of Saturday, December 3.

Stormin Exit
© Grossick Racing Photography

The Scottish handler sent down Lampion Du Bost for a 66/1 surprise over the Grand National fences in 2007 and followed up 12 months later with Endless Power.

Stormin Exit himself looked set to lay down a strong challenge in the Betfred Grand Sefton Handicap Chase last season before exiting the race at Becher’s Brook. He returned to Aintree in the spring to finish eighth over the same course and distance in the Listed John Smith’s Topham Handicap Chase.

The eight-year-old kicked off his autumn campaign with a pair of starts over hurdles at Kelso, winning a novices’ contest on October 15 and taking third in a similar race on November 5.

Goldie revealed: “The Betfred Grand Sefton Handicap Chase is an option for Stormin Exit and we are thinking about going back to Aintree with him. He has been running well over hurdles and I think those couple of spins will put him spot on for the race.

“He was going well up until Bechers’ Brook in the race last year, when he just didn’t make it to the other side, but he got round the course in April.

“We would like to think that he might be a potential John Smith’s Grand National horse at some point in the future.

“His stamina would be the main issue regarding the John Smith’s Grand National but I think that it’s a more a question of getting into rhythm over the fences. It’s a very good race nowadays and you have to be able to travel rather than plod round in your own time.”

The Betfred Grand Sefton Handicap Chase has thrown up clues to the John Smith’s Grand National, most notably Forest Gunner, who captured the race in 2004 and went on to finish fifth in the John Smith’s Grand National the same season.

Frankie Figg captured the Betfred Grand Sefton Handicap Chase in 2010 and his trainer Paul Nicholls has hinted that he will return to Aintree next month for the Betfred Becher Handicap Chase en route to a crack at the 2012 John Smith’s Grand National.

Trainer Peter Bowen has revealed that course specialist Always Waining, who has landed the past two renewals of the John Smith’s Topham Handicap Chase, is set to contest either the Betfred Becher Handicap Chase or the Betfred Grand Sefton Handicap Chase.

Betfred Becher Chase Grand National Trials Day also features the £100,000 Listed Betfred Becher Handicap Chase (2.15pm), which takes place over three and a quarter miles of the Grand National Course.

The contest, which returns to a Saturday slot this year, is a key trial for the John Smith’s Grand National. The recent BHA review into the Grand National stated that horses should have finished in the first four in a chase run over three miles or further to qualify the John Smith’s Grand National. Therefore, in addition to gaining valuable experience of the Grand National fences, connections have even more incentive to target the Betfred Becher Handicap Chase this season.

Amberleigh House took the spoils in 2001 before giving his legendary trainer Ginger McCain a fourth victory in the John Smith’s Grand National in 2004, while Silver Birch scored in the 2004 renewal of the Betfred Becher Handicap Chase prior to success in the world’s greatest steeplechase in 2007. Black Apalachi won the Betfred Becher Handicap Chase in 2008 and was runner-up to Don’t Push It in the 2010 John Smith’s Grand National.

A seven-race card on Becher Chase Grand National Trials Day also includes the £35,000 Listed Betfred Goals Galore Bonus Chase (2.50pm). The action gets underway with at 12.00pm with the Jaguar Maiden Hurdle and continues with the Betfred Goals Galore Handicap Hurdle (12.35pm), the Betfred 1350 Shops Nationwide Novices’ Handicap Hurdle (1.10pm) and the Betfred Free Machine Play Mares’ Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race (1.40pm).