Percussionist wins American Grand National (really a hurdle race)
Report: USA, Saturday
Far Hills, New Jersey: American Grand National (Grade 1 hurdle) 2m5f, turf, 4yo+
THE former Howard Johnson-trained
Percussionist(Hanne Bechmann/James O'Farrell) landed a significant blow across the Atlantic on Saturday when he won the American Grand National.
Percussionist: globetrotting hurdler has won in Norway and US
PICTURE:
Scandinavianraceweb.com
Now based in Denmark, the nine-year-old won going away in the $250,000 event, formerly known as the Breeders' Cup Chase and the richest jumps race in the States, to take the prize to Europe for the second year in a row after the surprise victory of Irish-trained
Your Sum Man in 2009.
Fourth in the Derby for John Gosden in 2004, Percussionist was purchased for 340,000gns by Graham Wylie and sent to Johnson, for whom he landed a three-lengthdefeat of Sergeant Cecil in the 2006 Yorkshire Cup.
Johnson's conditional jockey James O'Farrell, who rode him to win the Norwegian Champion Hurdle last month, retained the ride at Far Hills on Saturday, where the highlight of the US jumps season was a card comprising six races carrying a total of $500,000 in prize-money.
In front of a crowd of about 40,000 in rural New Jersey, Percussionist launched a withering move after the last to score going away for a decisive victory over domestic hopes Slip Away and Lead Us Not.
Percussionist is now owned by software executive Morten Busktop and Old Friends Stable.
Although the son of
Sadler's Wells runs in the name of trainer Hanne Bechmann, Busktop and his wife care for Percussionist at their small yard outside Copenhagen. They saddled
General Ledger to chase home Your Sum Man in the previous year's race.
When National Steeplechase Association starter R. Barry Watson dropped the flag to send the field on its way, Polaris Stable's Preemptive Strike and jockey Jody Petty attempted a preemptive strike on the lead. They opened a solid advantage for the first circuit of the Far Hills course, with Slip Away and jockey Paddy Young tracking them in second and an eager Class Bopper third.
Although the American Grand National is a historic race in its own right dating back to 1899, in its present incarnation it is an extension of the former Breeders' Cup Chase, won twice in 1990 and 1991 by Champion Hurdle winner
Morley Street.
In more recent seasons, the race has been dominated by five-time winner
McDynamo, who won every year from 2003-07.
Despite its title, however, the American Grand National resembles a hurdle in European terms.
The final major jump race of the US jump season, the Colonial Cup, will be held November 13 at the Springdale course in Camden, South Carolina.
