Foxrock has been backed by many in the build-up to the Grand National, but the horse’s owner, Barry Connell confirmed to the media that the Irish Grand National may be his chosen race this season.
When searching for a potential Grand National winner, Foxrock ticks plenty of boxes. Before this season, Ted Walsh’s nine-year-old had spent the last few years holding his own in some of the biggest staying chases on the National Hunt scene. He finished well in the Irish Hennessy, the Lexus Chase and the Irish Gold Cup and even twice ran in feature races at the Cheltenham Festival, including the 2015 Ryanair Chase and the 2014 National Hunt.
After a run of ten races without a victory, Walsh decided to lighten his charges load and drop him down into the Hunter Chase sphere at the start of this season. He tasted defeat on his first two starts of this new campaign, but since then Foxrock has recorded four victories in a row, including an impressive victory over On The Fringe at Leopardstown in February.
Although he has never appeared at Aintree during his career so far, Foxrock’s undoubted class and rock solid seasonal form made his name stand out when the Grand National declarations and weights were announced. Considering he has been cruising through Hunter Chases with the best part of 12 stone on his back this year, the 11-2 weight allowance afforded to him by the BHA Handicappers looks extremely favourable and he has been subject to plenty of Grand National ante-post wagers on both side of the Irish Sea.
Sitting alongside his British Grand National entry is an entry into Ireland’s equivalent race – which is run just nine days after the main event at Aintree, making it an incredibly tough ask for any horse to compete in both races. So it’s a question of one or the other. British Grand National or Irish Grand National? Aintree or Fairyhouse?
Speaking to the press earlier this week, it seems Foxrock’s owner, Barry Connell has come to a slightly surprising answer.
“At the moment, we’re leaning towards the Irish National.” said Connell, when speaking to The Telegraph earlier this week.
“I think the only thing that might make us change our minds is if it looked like it would come up soft in Aintree. We’ll have a better idea in 10 days or so, but the intention is to go to Fairyhouse as things stand.”
This outcome would be a bit of a disappointment, especially for those who have already backed Ted Walsh’s charge to put in a good showing in the Grand National, but as Connell goes on to explain, Foxrock has a few years left ahead of him to make the British Grand National, or another race at the Aintree Festival, a seasonal priority.
“If he did happen to win (the Irish Grand National), that would be great, but if he doesn’t he still qualifies for all the Hunter Chases next season again, including Cheltenham and Aintree.”
“Not having to travel would be a plus and he’s still only a nine-year-old, so he could go for the Irish National this year and the English National next year.”
