Andrew Bobbin enjoyed the spotlight of training Duke Of Bedford (NZ) (Tavistock) to win the Brierly Steeplechase and Grand Annual Steeplechase double at Warrnambool last week that he’s already planning on repeating the dose next year.
Bobbin decided to stay in Warrnambool on Thursday night and celebrate his dashing fencer’s success and was only finding his voice again on Sunday morning.
“I had a good night on Thursday night. It’s my career highlight, so it was worthy of a celebration,” Bobbin said.
The Grampians Racing trainer has been doing his homework since Duke Of Bedford’s amazing Grand Annual performance and has come to the conclusion that he will be best served by going for a spell.
“I came back on Friday and had the horse checked out and he recovered well. He’s going to have a break,” Bobbin said.
He pointed out that the last horse to win the Grand Annual and the Grand National Steeplechase double in the same year was in 2008.
“The Grand National is the obvious target, but it’s likely we will give that a miss and set him to do the same next year at Warrnambool,” he said.
“He’ll have a break as he’s only six-years-old. I’ve done some research on the last 15 Grand Annual winners, and the average age of the winners is eight and a half.”
“With him being only six he could only be half-way through his career if we look after him. He can have a break, and we can work towards Warrnambool in 12 months’ time.”
Bobbin said Duke Of Bedford would bypass the Jericho Cup as his main asset was the ground he made up in the air when he jumped.
“He jumps perfectly. Of the 33 fences in the Grand Annual it was only the first one he put in an average one. The rest he was brilliant. If you make up a length or two each jump, that’s a big advantage.”
“We will follow the path we took this year and hopefully can do the Brierly and Grand Annual double again.”
Bobbin said Warrnambool carnival aficionados told him that Duke Of Bedford’s wins were reminiscent of the John Wheeler trained Foxboy (NZ) (Foxbay) in 1997, who led throughout to win the Brierly by six lengths and then the Grand Annual by 20 lengths.
“I had multiple conversations with people I respect and that’s what they said, and they told me winning like that doesn’t happen often at all. They went back to Foxboy for the comparison.”
Bobbin said he was a bit nervous at the winning post the second time when Duke Of Bedford had cleared out from his rivals, but that’s when Arron Lynch put the race to bed.
“When he went up the hill the first time, I was wondering what he was doing, but Lynchy said he never asked him for an effort and he was doing it naturally and within himself.”
Bobbin said he hoped Duke Of Bedford’s win could pique the interest of some new owners for the stable who could entrust him with younger well-bred horses.
“We’ve been training for four and a half years, and we’ve trained 160 winners with mostly average stock from the second-hand sales. We’ve proved we can train winners with the best strike-rate with the jumpers,” he said.
“We have the facilities for sprinters and stayers as we can keep them sound, which is the biggest challenge in the game. We can get them fit on the sand tracks here without so much concussion and we can use the Stawell racetrack just up the road where I can gallop up the road on the grass.”
“Last week was the highlight of my career. Duke Of Bedford is only in his third season, and he’s proven he’s as good as there is at that discipline, so, hopefully, there’s more to come from him.”