Monbeg Genius, the horse owned by Conservative Party leader Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman at the center of the PPE scandal, has been named as one of the favorites for the Grand National at Aintree on April 13th. We are making good progress towards connecting.
At a luncheon in Liverpool on Tuesday to reveal the weights allocated to each runner in the world’s most famous race, the horse’s trainer Jonjo O’Neill said he was third with 16 wins and one loss. He talked about Thailand’s Monbeg Genius. It will team up with William Hill for the biggest betting event of the year, horse racing, and will conduct a warm-up run for Aintree at Kelso early next month.
O’Neill ran well to finish third in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury in December, when the gelding resolved a small problem he had had since last appearing on track. reported. “Monbeg Genius did a good job this morning. I’m happy for him,” the trainer said.
It remains to be seen whether Mr Mone or Mr Barrowman, who bought the horse for a reported £80,000 as a wedding gift for her husband in 2020, will come to Aintree to see the horse run. The traditional raucous crowd of more than 70,000 people who welcome the victory of a horse with such connections could well have a negative impact.
On Tuesday, the Racing Post published a column headlined “We just hope he doesn’t win” and argued that a victory for Monbeg Genius “could do serious damage to horse racing.”
O’Neill said he would not comment on the horse’s owner. He said he had “no opinion” on the Post’s article that said, “I’m doing well in my job and I’m going to train horses to the best of my ability.”
Two weeks ago, British Horse Racing announced that the eight-year-old, officially owned by Barrowman Racing and always considered a potential Aintree Marathon favorite, will not be affected by a restriction order placed on the horse’s assets. announced. owners.
Baroness Morne and Mr Barrowman are facing a lengthy investigation by the National Crime Agency into allegations of bribery and fraud in securing £200m in government contracts with company PPE Medpro. Both men have now acknowledged their involvement in the company, but deny any wrongdoing.
Monbeg Genius is one of the lightweights taking part in the Aintree spectacle and is set to carry 10st 4lb.
Ireland’s continued dominance in jumps racing is also clearly reflected by the fact that Ireland has a total of 56 of its 87 domestic runners remaining. The final field was reduced from 40 to 34, one of a number of safety measures put in place by Aintree after last year’s outing, during which champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins had nine and Gordon Mr. Elliott occupies half of the top spots with eight people. There are currently 34 people left in the race.
Elliott has 23 runners, and Tuesday’s comments indicated he plans to run at least nine. When asked who stood out among his runners, he said: “Galvin looks like he’s going to be OK with the injury.” He was pretty much a top-tier player last year and has the potential to be there.
“Chemical energy is different. We had him on the field a little bit in the spring, so this was the plan all year.”
Mullins had a total of 13 from his own yards in the race. He is already planning to take more than 70 horses to the Cheltenham Festival in March, and when asked if he intended to send some of his potential Aintree runners to the Cotswolds, he said: “It’s very unlikely we will.” “It’s expensive.” Once he has a more detailed look at the weights, he plans to solidify his plans for Nationals. ”
Irish runner Huick weighed in with an 11th place of 12lbs, while Lucinda Russell said the 11th place of 2lbs allocated to last year’s Lady winner Coraque Rambler was “in line with our expectations”. he said.
He added: “We are preparing him for the nationals but the Cheltenham Gold Cup comes first.” He’s putting in a lot of work right now, but he’s going to pull out with a few weeks left. ”
