Keep Castle In Mind For Aintree Spectacular
Time seems to have flown since Arthur Moore's grey King Johns Castle came so close to landing the 2008 Aintree Grand National, writes Elliot Slater.
The gelding put up a sterling effort to chase home heavily backed winner Comply Or Die and on the basis of that effort was a strong fancy for the 2009 renewal of the historic marathon handicap chase. Unfortunately for all concerned, niggling injuries resulted in King Johns Castle having to miss the race and he wasn't seen again on the track until reappearing at Punchestown in December, where he ran a perfectly respectable race to finish seventh (beaten 20 lengths) over a now inadequate two-and-a-half miles.
Arthur Moore appears to be going quietly about his business and looks to be readying his 11-year-old charge for another crack at the Grand National in April. Moore is an absolute master of laying horses out for major handicaps (not to mention stacks of Grade 1 victories), and while the 2008 runner-up is now in the senior bracket as far as winning the world's greatest steepelechase is concerned, he has relatively few miles on the clock. If Moore can manage to keep the snowy-white gelding sound there is every chance that he could run another mighty race, especially if the ground is on the soft side of good.
Previous course form is particularly valuable at Aintree as year after year the same horses come back to the track and run to a level some way in advance of their regular form over standard park fences. King Johns Castle is no superstar, but he did give every indication that he really enjoyed himself over the daunting National fences and he looks just the type of horse to come back again and put in another big performance.
Currently available at 50/1, Moore's old-timer could yet prove the each-way value and go very close to improving on his sterling 2008 effort.
