Westerner’s progeny love the soft…. as proved by Blenkinsop

BLENKINSOP made it four wins in succession over hurdles and from a BHA mark of 123, having stared his winning sequence off a mark of 104.

He was bred by T F F Nixon, is owned by Mrs L Nixon and is out of the Silver Patriarch mare Last Of Her Line. She is also dam to Fortescue, who pulled up in this week’s Welsh National having finished fourth in the Becher Chase in November, unseated in the Grand National and won last February’s Listed Swinley Chase at Ascot. The eight-year-old is also trained by Henry Daly

The son of Westerner came home four lengths clear of the Gary Moore-trained Moulins Clement.

“He ground it out a long way out,” said  jockey Tom O’Brien. “He is best on soft, but it has turned heavy now. Henry is flying and is a very astute placer of a horse and gets the maximum of what he has got. There could be more to come from this horse.”