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Nolan hoping See U Bob gets the trip

RACING: PAUL NOLAN is hoping See U Bob will see out the trip in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday.

Thu Apr 21 2011 - 01:00

RACING:PAUL NOLAN is hoping See U Bob will see out the trip in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday.

The eight-year-old will be going a mile further than he has ever travelled before under rules but the Co Wexford trainer is crossing his fingers the gelding’s stamina will last out.

“See U Bob takes his chance and we’ve got to decide about Clan Tara who we’ve also left in,” Nolan said. “I wouldn’t like to run him with firm in the wording. I’ve been speaking to Peter Roe (manager) at the track for the last couple of days and he’s going to assure everyone of very safe jumping ground.

“We ran him at Punchestown last year on firm ground and he didn’t have a cut at his fences on account of the ground. Then he disappointed and fell a couple of times.

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“See U Bob was probably a shade unlucky in a Grade Two chase in Navan on his last run where he made a couple of mistakes and just got a bit further back than we wanted him to.

“We didn’t run him in Gowran on Sunday as the chase track was a bit rough on the take-off and landing side of the fences.

“He takes his chance in the National. We are going into different territory regards the trip but hopefully he’ll stay and give a good account of himself.”

Jonjo O’Neill’s Synchronised tops the 51 possibles following the latest acceptance stage.

Owned by JP McManus, Synchronised is one of nine English entries in the 140th running of the highlight of the three-day Easter Festival at the Co Meath venue.

“The ground will be the key for Synchronised and the longer the sunshine continues the less likely it is that he’ll have conditions to his favour so we’ve eased him out to 16 to 1,” Ladbrokes spokeswoman Hayley O’Connor said.

“Beautiful Sound remains favourite but it’s Dermot Weld’s Prince Erik that is the liveliest in the market today.”

However, Beautiful Sound, trained by Gordon Elliott, is still not guaranteed a place in the maximum 25-strong field as he is currently number 32 in the list.

Acting racecourse manager Peter Roe reports the going as good after watering began on Tuesday.

“With no significant rain forecast before the weekend, we are currently putting six millimetres on the track and the situation is being continually monitored as we aim to produce good National Hunt ground,” he said.

IRISH GRAND NATIONAL BETTING:(Ladbrokes): 7-1 Beautiful Sound, 10-1 Prince Erik, 12-1 Sunnyhillboy, Quantitativeasing, 14-1 Backstage, Organisedconfusion, Pomme Tiepy, 16-1 Hughies Grey, See U Bob, Shakervilz, Some Target, Western Charmer, Whatuthink, Synchronised, 20-1 bar.