Great Northern trip depends on weather

Shane Anderton.
Shane Anderton.
The weather in the North Island over the next two weeks will decide whether High Forty lines up in the Great Northern Steeplechase on September 3.

The Brian and Shane Anderton-trained 10yr-old slogged away bravely to finish fourth in the Grand National Steeplechase at Riccarton on Saturday, missing out on third by a nose.

The rain was High Forty’s nemesis, turning the track from a slow8 to a very testing heavy11 by the time the Grand National rolled around.‘‘It was just a pity the rain arrived,’’ Shane Anderton said.‘‘The day before, the track was quite good and it would have been right up his alley, but the track went to custard on the last day.

Anderton said the gelding had ‘‘pulled up all right’’ after he put his head down to grind away to the end of the 5600m.

"He tried right to the line and I was pretty proud of him — it was just the heavy track and the big weight."

The Andertons will now ‘‘wait for a bit’’ to see how the weather affects the track at Ellerslie.

"If it dries out a bit, we might go up there. But if it’s going to be a bog, we probably won’t. We’ll just see what it does in the next 10 days or so."

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