Paul Townend: Classy Haut En Couleurs can thrive on better ground at Aintree
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Ladbrokes ambassador and leading jockey Paul Townend enjoyed his first Irish Grand National success with a brilliant performance on 8/1 shot I Am Maximus last weekend and he has a couple of rides on Friday in the build-up to the English version.
Ahead of Saturday’s Randox Grand National, the three-time Gold Cup winner spoke to us about the prospects of Bronn and Haut En Couleurs at Aintree.
Bronn ran a cracking race at Cheltenham behind The Real Whacker and Gerri Colombe. He will meet Gerri Colombe here again, who is the stand-out horse in the race. We have a few lengths to find with him. We were second to him at Fairyhouse earlier in the year as well. These horses that have been to Cheltenham and are travelling over to the UK again will be interesting in terms of how they perform.
Paul Nicholls’ horse Complete Unknown is the fresher horse coming into the race after missing Cheltenham. It’s a small field with six runners but a very competitive race. I actually think Bronn is open to improvement, but we won’t know until we try.
I ride Haut En Couleurs in the Topham over the Grand National fences. It is unknown whether these horses take to the fences or not. It is very competitive. We have a lot of weight and horses with plenty of weight have a good record in this. It is all about taking to the fences and I think my horse will. He is a classy individual on his day.
He was disappointing when he was beaten at Gowran a couple of runs ago, but the ground was pretty soft that day and the ground at Aintree should be better. He ran a huge race at Cheltenham and a reproduction of that will put him bang in there. It is an exciting race to ride in and I hope my horse takes to it.
