Postmaster Optimistic About Grand National

Tim Vaughan, whose original John Smith’s Grand National candidate Beshabar has been forced to miss the race and most of the season through injury, is hoping that his lightly weighted Postmaster will sneak into the race and gave the yard something to shout about at Aintree on April 14, writes Elliot Slater.

With the top 40 entries set to take their chance in ‘the world’s greatest steeplechase’, Postmaster is currently number 44 on the list but his prospects look fairly rosy with a number of horses rated above him in the Grand National weights far from certain to line up on the big day. The 10-year-old has been around for a number of seasons and is a very experienced chaser who has won nine of his 96 career starts and significantly finished runner-up on a further 17 occasions. There have been those over the years who have questioned the determination of the gelded son of Dansili, but he has done well since joining Vaughan from the Evan Williams yard at the start of last year, although his first attempt over the Grand National fences was nothing to write home about. Those with 2012 Grand National free bets will be wondering if will have learned from the experience.

Sent off a 100/1 chance for last season’s John Smith’s Topham Trophy Postmaster got no further than the first fence where he took a heavy fall, and hopes will be high that should he get into the main event this time around he can at least last a bit longer and give the awesome spruce fences plenty of respect. Vaughan’s charge will go to the big race a fresh horse having not been seen in action since scoring at Bangor in August off a mark of 132, since when the current 100/1 shot has been raised seven pounds and is due to take his chance in the Grand National off a mark of 139.