Didn’t Push It Too Hard

The 2010 grand national winner ‘Don’t Push It‘ continued his preparations for the 2012 national with an outing over the hurdles at Cheltenham on Saturday in the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Handicap Hurdle (3m 1f).

Don’t Push It was once again teamed up with his Grand National winning jockey A.P. McCoy. The race was a cracker an ended in a photo finish between Pettifour and Dorset Square, with the Willie Mullins trained Dorset Square being judge the winner.

Don’t Push It came in decent sixth place behind Oscargo, Raslan & My Shamwari. This race was never going to suit Don’t Push It and even McCoy stated as much in his Telegraph column the day before the race – “My old Grand National pal Don’t Push It (3.10) is not a betting proposition in the long distance hurdle. He’ll be 12 by the next National so I’d say Dorset Square is the one to be on here. He looks well in at the weights.”

Hurdle races likes these are seen as excellent preparation work for grand national runners. Finishing in money is unlikely to be a major concern for owners and trainers, a case of ‘Don’t push it too hard’ if you will.

We’ll be following the preparation work of the major contenders for this years national – so check back often or subscribe to our rss feed.