Gibbs Island heads to another Grade 1 at the Grand National meeting

Our Class 2 winning juvenile hurdler, Gibbs Island will be heading to his second Festival meeting in a row next week- this time at Aintree’s Grand National meeting. He has two race options- the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle on Thursday April 3 against his own age group and on the following day in the TrustATrader Top Novices' Hurdle, both Grade 1 races. Trainer Tom Lacey will decide on Tuesday about which one to aim at.

Last time out, Gibbs Island gave his owners a tremendous day when running in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival earlier this month. Unfortunately, the race itself didn’t work out for Gibbsy- he pulled very hard in the first four 4 furlongs, burning up a lot of energy, and it was no surprise that he faded out of contention in the latter stages. He was previously unbeaten in two starts and had shown his true colours when a dominant winner of the Class 2 Victor Ludorum Hurdle in February, impressing everybody with the speed and accuracy of his jumping.

Whichever race is selected next week, it will likely be a tough assignment, with plenty of horses who ran well at Cheltenham in opposition. At the time of writing, the 2nd, 4th and 6th from the Triumph Hurdle hold entries in Thursday’s race. That said, Gibbs Island will no doubt be cheered on by legions of his owners at what is one of the highlights of the Jumps racing calendar.