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| John Smith's Grand National - 14th April 2012 |
According to Jefferson Pete Bids for Grand National
13/02/12
Malcolm Jefferson, whose King Fontaine ran well for a long way in last season’s John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree, is looking forward to running his bang in-form According to Pete in this year’s renewal of the Aintree spectacular and is tailoring his preparation specifically with that one race in mind, writes Elliot Slater.
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According to Pete has emerged as a genuine contender for honours in the four-and-a-half-mile marathon contest having at last delivered on the promise he has shown for so much of his career and anyone looking at the latest online Grand National betting odds cannot rule him out.
The Accordion gelding looked a chaser with a very big future when winning his first four starts over fences in the 2008/9 season before finishing a respectable fourth to Big Fella Thanks under a big weight in the 2009 Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster.
Although he had run some sound races in the interim, including when finishing third to Our Vic in the 2010 Peter Marsh Chase and when failing by just a head to beat the decent Skippers Brig in a class 2 staying handicap hurdle at Haydock 12 months ago, it wasn’t until Boxing Day at Wetherby that Jefferson’s charge finally showed what he could do when springing a 33/1 shock in beating Helpston by a length to land the Grade 3 Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase.
Raised 7lbs to a mark of 142 for that win, the 11-year-old then took in the Grade 2 Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock in January and in testing ground took up the running at half-way and was never in danger after, eventually crossing the line more than three-lengths clear of Pearlysteps to catapult himself into the reckon for the Grand National itself. Rated a general 33/1 chance to win the ‘world’s greatest steeplechase’, Jefferson has his fingers crossed that the handicapper isn’t too harsh on his charge and gives him a respectable racing weight.
