Swing Bill

Swing Bill was the 12 year old from the David Pipe yard who was 10th in the 2012 National, which was won by Neptune Collonges, and so with hopes high that he could do better he was given an entry to the 2013 Grand National.

Since the 2012 renewal he put another six races under his belt, including a Handicap Chase at Cheltenham and a run in the Becher Chase at Aintree on December 8th 2012, where he finished in a very respectable fourth place to the epic winner Hello Bud. Join Together and Big Fella Thanks were second and third and both were also entered into the 2013 Grand National.

With 30 Chase starts that have resulted in four wins, four seconds and five thirds Swing Bill was a decent, solid horse who definitely had what it takes to get around Aintree and more importantly, can cleanly jump it’s fences.

His Official Rating was slightly better than in 2012 so he was been given 10-08 for the 2013 National up from 10-03 but the odds of 80/1 did’t do him any justice, having said that, at 12 years of age it was a tough ask.

He proved his critics wrong and romped home in 6th place earning connections £12,870 and with Conor O”Farrell on board, it was a fantastic result for a horse his age and with that in mind it’s unlikely that we will see him re-appear for the 2014 Grand National.