Western Fold wins American Grand National. Could he target Aintree next?

Gordon Elliott’s love affair with Far Hills continued at the weekend, as Western Fold got the better of old stablemate Fil Dor in a thrilling finish to the American Grand National, the New Jersey track’s feature jumps race.

The seven-year-old, ridden by Elliott’s number one jockey Jack Kennedy, edged clear at the last before having to dig in again as Fil Dor rallied on the inside. In the end there was only a head in it at the line, with last year’s winner Zanahiyr, also trained by Elliott, back in third under Danny Gilligan.

It’s worth being clear on what the race actually is. Despite the name, the American Grand National is a Grade 1 hurdle race run over 2 miles 5 furlongs, not a steeplechase in the Aintree sense. Kennedy described the obstacles afterwards as “slightly bigger than a hurdle and smaller than a fence,” nothing like the spruce Western Fold would face if he ever lined up at Aintree. Elliott has form in this event too. This was his third win in the race, after Jury Duty in 2018 and Zanahiyr last year, part of a stable raid on New Jersey that’s becoming something of an annual tradition.

What makes Western Fold more interesting than most Far Hills winners, though, is the form he brings into it. He won the Galway Plate back in the summer, one of the most hotly contested staying handicaps in the Irish calendar, and followed that up with a Grade 1 novice chase win at the Punchestown Festival in April. That’s a different profile to a horse who simply travels well on the Flat in America; it’s the CV of a proper chaser with genuine class and stamina, the kind of thing that tends to catch the eye of Grand National market watchers.

Could Western Fold eventually head to Aintree?

Which brings us to the obvious question. Could Western Fold be aimed at Aintree in 2027? He’s already available at 50/1 with some bookmakers, suggesting at least a few are taking the idea seriously.

It wouldn’t be the natural route. A hurdle race over an unfamiliar obstacle on the other side of the Atlantic is a long way from proving a horse handles the National fences, and nothing about running at Far Hills tells you anything useful about that. But it is a path with precedent. Hewick won this same race in 2022, having also landed the Galway Plate that summer, and went on to become a leading National fancy in the years that followed. If Elliott and connections fancy following that blueprint, Western Fold’s underlying form suggests he’s at least a more plausible long shot than his American exploits alone would indicate.

For now, nothing is confirmed. But it’s a name worth filing away as the season develops, particularly if Elliott starts talking about Aintree plans in the build-up to Christmas.