Bishops Road wins Grand National trial at Haydock

Bishops Road strode home in difficult conditions to give trainer Kerry Lee victory at the Grand National trial at Haydock over the weekend. This victory continued an incredible run of form for Lee who has already achieved Saturday wins through Mountainous, Russe Blanc, Grey Gold and Top gamble so far in 2016.

As the 13/2 outsider in Saturday’s betting, the eight year old overcame a stone rise in weight to seal a famous victory by nine lengths, as rivals faltered. Currently ranked 60th in the weights for Aintree on April 9th, with the top 40 guaranteed a run, things are certainly looking good for the trainer Lee, who purchased the horse for just 32,000 guineas. Given 33/1 odds by bookmaker Coral, Bishops road may well be in with an outside chance at Aintree if this form continues.

Kerry Lee is clearly delighted with recent events stating “It’s a dream to have a runner in the Grand National and that’s where he’s going. I don’t think the heavy ground suited him, but he’ll go to Aintree whatever we get.

Bishops Road, ridden by jockey Richard Johnson, claimed victory having moved beautifully throughout, and despite taking some time to warm up over jumps at the beginning off the race, shrugged off Broadway Buffalo to claim the comfortable win, with Cloudy Too back in third. For Johnson, it was a 198th victory of what is proving to be a fruitful season.

Bishops Road is owned by Alan Halsall, the former owner of Silver Cross prams and a director at Aintree racecourse, who will be keeping a close eye on proceedings. Mountainous should provide Lee with a second Grand National hopeful, if she can overcome a slight injury picked up after this weekends racing. For those of you who enjoy horse racing betting, you could do a lot worse than to back either one of these Kerry Lee trained horses, going into the ever unpredictable showcase event in April.