Current BHB Rating at 25/09/08: 146

Current wins/runs at 27/10/08: 33 runs, 6 wins (20 runs over fences, 4 wins)

Parsons Legacy: Overview

Started his career in Bumpers and Novice Hurdles in Ireland for William Flavin but came over to England and Philip Hobbs whilst still a maiden for the 03/04 NH Season.

Right from the word go ‘chasing was mentioned as this horse’s likely forte but he still managed two wins from his brief hurdling career.

The 08/09 season will be Parsons Legacy’s fifth year over fences but the 07/08 season was curtailed after his run at Cheltenham on the 1st January due a bout of coughing and then lameness. He was an intended runner in the National until being withdrawn at the 18th March forfeit stage and so putting paid to many an ante post wager!

Parsons Legacy’s wins over fences have come at distances of between 20 and 26 furlongs and he has won going right handed and left handed and on a variety of different types of tracks. He would appear to prefer good ground with all his six wins coming within the good to firm – good to soft ground range, genuinely good ground would seem to suit him best.
He has run over 26f on four occasions (27f x 3, 33f x 1). The most interesting of these being his run in the 2007 Scottish National where he finished 1 ¾ lengths 3rd to Hot Weld and Nine De Sivola.

GNG View

Parsons Legacy’s recent return to action after a nine month lay-off was rewarded with a good victory at Cheltenham in an 18k race at the opening meeting at the track. This win takes Parsons Legacy up to an official rating of 146, a couple of pounds outside the magical 136-144 range of recent Grand National winners.

I was glad to see Philip Hobbs start the horse’s campaign so positively and especially as he goes so well fresh. There is surely little point putting all your eggs in one Grand National basket, especially if the horse has already had bouts of lameness and is 10 rising 11.

The placing at the Scottish National is the icing on the cake for most of last year’s ante-post punters and just to improve things further he would be significantly better off with his conquerors at Ayr if they were to meet again in the near future.

I’m not 100% sure though that Scottish National form means we can rubber stamp the fact that this horse will get the trip again in the Grand National. He is by Leading Counsel and whilst that sire has thrown other staying chasers such as Dun Doire and Model Son he has also produced more essentially speed horses in the likes of decent 2 mile chaser Justified and a good Martin Pipe hurdler from yesteryear, Rodock. The dam comes from the line of The Parson so there is an influence of stamina there but I just felt that the Scottish National might have pushed him to the limit stamina wise.

Conclusion

I was prepared to take a chance on that stamina doubt last year but last year’s injury worries and the possibility of a tad more weight this year just put me off at the moment with a view to including Parsons Legacy in my shortlist for the National.

Also, I’m just wondering if he has crossed over into the “too experienced” category now after five seasons over fences? Like many in the current ante post list, perhaps he missed his best chance last year?

As so many contributors to this forum appeared to back Parsons Legacy last year we would be very pleased to hear their thoughts about the horse’s chances this year. And let us know if you can see yourself backing him again!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Grand National 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.