Leaderboard Grand National Bound
Date: 18 Aug 2024
Michael Manley ~ Racing.com reports:
It's no surprise that Te Akau Racing's assistant trainer Ben Gleeson is full of admiration for Leaderboard, who he describes as a warhorse.
The 10-year-old gelding will have his seventh-consecutive run for the jumps season when he lines up in the Grand National Steeplechase at Ballarat on August 25 and Gleeson is looking forward to the challenge against Stern Idol.
"Stern Idol is going there but he'll be giving us a lot of weight. It will be interesting as our boy has pulled up great and he'll be much better suited back to the steeples," Gleeson said.
Te Akau's Melbourne-based manager is amazed by Leaderboard's constitution and attitude.
"He's been a warhorse. He's got the best attitude and you wouldn't think he was 10," he said.
Gleeson said Leaderboard spends his time down at the beach just ticking over between his runs.
The Group 3 Wellington Cup winner has been one of the most consistent and durable jumpers in 2024.
He had his first run in Victoria over the hurdles when he finished second at Pakenham in April in a maiden hurdle and since then has mixed racing over hurdles and fences successfully.
He won the maiden hurdle at the Warrnambool May Racing Carnival and then finished second in the Australian Hurdle.
He then went to the bigger jumps and won a Benchmark 120 Steeplechase before finishing third in the Thackeray Steeplechase, with both those latter starts also coming at Warrnambool.
Leaderboard then went back to the hurdles and finished third in the Grand National Hurdle.
"He's been really enjoyable to have trained in what's been an amazing season for our small team of jumpers," Gleeson said.
Te Akau Racing's co-trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson also sent two other jumpers from New Zealand to Australia, Prismatic and The Mighty Spar, who have also raced successfully.
"All the jumpers have had an amazing season, which was our first for the stable," Gleeson said.
Prismatic won two of his three hurdle starts and The Mighty Spar had five jumps starts for two wins over the steeplechases and a second.
"It's given us something to build on with promising jumpers for the season ahead. Prismatic could be anything next year and The Mighty Spar grew in confidence and could get to a good level next year," he said.
Photo credit - Racing Photos