Walk In The Mill
Walk In The Mill was impressive in winning the Becher Chase, and he can be marked up on the bare form of the run. For starters, he was hampered at the first fence when Like The Sound over-jumped and fell in front of him. He had to do a little bit of running to get back up into a prominent position, just behind the leaders. After that, he was very good, he jumped the spruce fences well and he travelled for James Best. He got in a bit tight to the third last fence and he came under pressure, but he responded well to pressure, hit the front on the run to the second last, and stayed on well up the run-in to win well. He only won by two and a half lengths, Kimberlite Candy closed on him close home, but he was probably idling. He probably won with more in hand than the bare winning margin.
It was a second Becher Chase for Robert Walford's horse in two years. He was racing off a mark of 141 on Saturday, 4lb higher than last year's mark, but he made light of that. The handicapper raised him by 6lb for this to a mark of 147, which is 3lb higher than the mark off which he finished fourth in last year's Grand National. He did well to finish fourth though, on ground that should have been faster than ideal for him. He looks like an even better horse this term, this was probably a career-best performance, and he obviously loves it around Aintree, so if the ground happened to come up soft in April, he could improve on last year's position.
Aintree, 7th December 2019
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