Bud back for more Becher success
As well as landing this Listed prize 12 months ago, the 13-year-old also finished fifth in the race in 2009 and fifth in the 2010 Grand National itself.
The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained veteran warmed up for a return to Merseyside with a creditable fifth in the Badger Ales Trophy, and owner Seamus Murphy reports the gelding to be in excellent order ahead of his latest assignment.
He said: “We’ve had him since he was a baby, so we’ve been with him every step of the way.
“I haven’t seen him, but I’ve been in touch with Nigel and he says he’s in great form, which is good enough for me.
“He ran well at Wincanton. We knew he needed a race and that was obviously a prep race for this.
“He’s one of the top five jumpers in the UK, and he’s especially good at Liverpool – and it takes a good horse to jump those fences.
“We think he’ll go very well. The jockey (Sam Twiston-Davies) might be nearly as old as the horse, but he’s a great lad and will do the right thing by the horse.
“We’ll just let him bowl along from the front, keep out of trouble, and hopefully jump with great fluency.”
Noel Meade is looking forward to seeing how Another Palm adapts to jumping the giant fences, having filled the runner-up spot in the Cork Grand National on his latest appearance.
“He’s always been a good jumper and he’s quite slow, so we’re going to Aintree to find out which way we’re going to go with himin the future,” said Meade.
“Jumping fences seems to have livened him up and you never know how they’ll take to Aintree until you go, but hopefully he’ll handle it all right.
“He’s going over there in good form and has a nice weight on his back so if he does take to the place, he jumps well and gets a bit of luck I hope he can run well.
“If he does, then obviously we can look towards going back there for the National in the spring.”
