The Galloping Bear upsets Bristol De Mai in Grand National Trial

A “shell-shocked” Ben Clarke could not hide his delight with The Galloping Bear (9-2 Favourite), who provided the trainer with a marquee Saturday winner in today’s Grade Three William Hill Grand NationalTrial (3m 4½f) at Haydock Park - just five months after taking out a professional licence.

The 31 year old, who is based in Dorset, originally worked as assistant trainer to Anthony Honeyball before branching out himself with a string of 15 horses at his base. Clarke has trained six winners so far this season, with three of those have coming this week alone – having trained a double at Sandown Park on Thursday.

And although The Galloping Bear had been backed into 9-2 favouritism, it seemed for the world as though it would be Bristol De Mai’s day, with the veteran turning for home with a commanding advantage.

However, carrying 11st 12lbs in heavy conditions proved a task too far for the three-time Betfair Chase winner and he was ground down by The Galloping Bear in the closing stages, with the latter going to on to score by seven lengths under Ben Jones. And speaking after the race, Clarke could hardly believe what he had witnessed.

He said: “I’m absolutely shell-shocked to be honest. I thought we had a good chance coming here but when you see Bristol De Mai – the Haydock legend – going so well, I’m stunned we won that. My fiancé Sally deserves all the credit, she does all the work with this horse.

“I was assistant to Anthony Honeyball and then took a license out in September, I was previously training pointers and hunter chasers – and both this horse and Dr Kananga (who won at Sandown on Thursday) came through that route. We thought these were well above average, so we thought we’d take out a license and win some proper money!

“This horse was meant to win the Welsh National but he scoped dirty two days before! That was the plan and when we won a £30,000 race at Lingfield (last month’s Surrey National) I was a bit annoyed to be honest as we were meant to use his mark to win a big one! No disrespect to the Surrey National, but when he went up 5lbs for that we felt it was very fair.

“We’ve had a licence since September and we’ve had six winners so far, we had a double at Sandown on Thursday and I thought I’d used all my luck up ahead of today! For a small yard to come and compete on days like this is just magic for us and to go and bag a big one is great.”

Such a victory for Clarke so early into his training career was a story in itself, but he admitted that he had plenty of remorse for winning at the expense of the veteran Bristol De Mai.

He added: “I felt really bad because I’ve followed the horse for God knows how long and he’s a legend. He was giving us plenty of weight today and that was obviously the difference between us, but it was a fantastic run.”

When asked about future plans for The Galloping Bear, he said: “We had talked about the Midlands National but that was an absolute war out there today. If you see him again this season it’ll be over the water in the Irish National.

“He’s very conditions dependent, so next season we’ll probably look to the Becher Chase and then maybe onto the big on at Aintree maybe – but it will depend on the ground.”

Meanwhile, Bristol De Mai’s trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies commented: “He was brilliant and as they say weight can stop trains and he was just given too much weight - we all thought he’d won that turning into the straight. We’ve got no plans moving forward, we’ll just wait and see.”

Nigel Twiston-Davies was full of optimism for the spring with the resurgent Wholestone (16-1), who bounced back to winning ways with a determined victory in the Grade Two William Hill Rendlesham Hurdle (3m ½f) at Haydock Park today.

The 11 year old hadn’t been seen on the racecourse since November 2020 due to a foot injury but he showed plenty of stamina to outstay Top Ville Ben for a 13-length success under the trainer’s son Sam.

And his trainer is hopeful that the son of Craigsteel could make up for lost time by finding some good opportunities over both fences and hurdles this spring.

Twiston-Davies said: “He’s a very special horse and he’s done an awful lot in his time.

“He’s not in the Stayers’ Hurdle! We’ll look at the Aintree race now and he’s got a lot of class. He’s very good over fences too so the world is our oyster now.

“It was a fantastic performance and he’s a class horse so why shouldn’t he run well but I wasn’t really expecting that today. You believe what the press say – he hasn’t got a chance and he was 16-1!”

Meanwhile, Phil Kirby revealed that the runner-up Top Ville Ben would now head to Aintree for the Randox Grand National – after being allocated a weight of 10st 5lbs for the race at the Weights Lunch in Liverpool on Tuesday.

He said: “The Grand National is the plan. He jumped really well and he’d need a bit of soft ground, maybe not to this extent but he wants soft-ish going. He’s come out of it grand as well, I know he looks tired but he wasn’t distressed, so we’ll aim for Aintree now fingers crossed.”

Elsewhere on the card, jockey Josh Moore hasn’t ruled out a tilt at this year’s JCB Triumph Hurdle with the exciting Porticello (30-100 Favourite), after a deeply impressive 17-length success in the William Hill Super Odds Victor Ludorum Juvenile Hurdle. (2m)

The four year old was a dominant winner of the Grade One Finale Juvenile Hurdle on his most recent start at Chepstow in December and he was in similar heart here – in a race which has been won by the likes of Top Notch (2015) and Frodon (2016) in recent years.

And the winning jockey revealed that any run at Cheltenham would hinge on the ground. He said: “He’s a big beautiful horse and he’s not your typical juvenile to look at. It’s surprising what he has won this year and I think that’s testament to his ability.

“It’s testing ground out there especially for a juvenile but he will be a stayer this horse. It’s quite hard work out there and I had to ride him through the line just to keep him focused and get him over as it is tacky old ground.

“He is in the Triumph and he’d have every right to be in it. I’d say that would depend on how he comes out of this. If the ground is right, I’d expect him to have a go there. He’s a big horse though and we view him as one for the future.”

The opening race was the William Hill Cheltenham Non-Runner Money Back Novices' Limited Handicap Chase (2m 4f) which saw the Tom Lacey-trained Adrimel (4-6 Favourite) pick up a second straight victory over fences.

The seven year old was a dominant 15-length winner over 2m at Haydock Park in December though he was made to work harder here on the heavy ground, finding plenty to hold off the attentions of the closing Shaman Du Berlais by a neck.

And after a dry winter, Lacey is hopeful that there will be plenty of opportunities for his charge this spring. He said: “Sam (Sheppard) said he just got lonely out in front and that it is hard work out there - sometimes you can get lonely in ground like that.

“I think he’s better than a staying handicap chaser but he’s a horse that you’ve got to catch right. He’s not had any setbacks at home and we’ve just been waiting for some softer ground – though he doesn’t necessarily need these extreme conditions.

“He’s not been an easy horse to place given the dry winter we’ve had and hopefully it keeps coming and we can find him some nice races.”