Calgary Waits For National

There was quite a lot of tooing and froing last week as trainer Henrietta Knight had serious discussions with Calgary Bay’s owners as to the best strategic options for the season. Connections had confirmed Calgary would go straight to the National, then they back-tracked and said the 2012 Gold Cup was still an option, then they came back again and said no, it was the 2012 Grand National.

[Racecard Calgary Bay]

Henrietta Knight, who trains the nine-year-old at West Lockinge, near Wantage, revealed earlier this week that owner Tim Radford had put forward the idea of giving the gelding a supplementary entry at a cost of £25,000.

But Knight said last night: “We want to keep him for the National.

“You can’t hurry things, and for the Gold Cup you want to be 110 per cent, and he has not been prepared for the Gold Cup.”

Calgary Bay has been given a hefty enough 11-06 for the National and is currently available, ante-post, at odds of around 25/1 which is down from the original 33/1.