McGrath backing Lulamba to reign in Henry VIII Chase

Jerry McGrath sourced Lulamba from France and he believes the exciting chasing prospect has all the right attributes to make his Grade One mark over the larger obstacles when he tackles Saturday’s Betfair Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown.

Once a key member of Nicky Henderson’s engine room as a jockey, the Irishman has remained a vital cog in the Seven Barrows operation in his role as bloodstock agent, responsible for bringing a host of elite talent back to the yard.

One of those is Lulamba, who after a sure-footed chasing debut at Exeter, will attempt to add to his top-level success over hurdles in this first major test over fences.

Despite the view he could prove even better over further in time, McGrath is confident the strapping four-year-old can add his name to a roll of honour that includes Henderson greats in Sprinter Sacre, Altior and Jonbon.

McGrath said: “He’s a strong-travelling two-miler at the moment but you can’t forget he was an hour away from running over two and a half miles at Aintree in the spring before he got pulled out because of the quick ground.

“Even then we thought he was going to be two-and-a-half-miler and looking at his pedigree, he may one day stay three miles as well as he has the size and scope to do that.

“For now we think two miles will be fine and Saturday will be a stiff jumping test round Sandown with no hiding place. He’s in good form and hopefully he can turn up in good shape and everything goes well.”

It often takes a good eye and a swelling cheque book to acquire some of France’s premium gems and with the likes of Sir Gino and King George hope Jango Baie also bearing McGrath’s signature on their transfer forms, he explained what exactly attracted him to Lulamba amongst others.

“When you are looking at those horses in France who are running at three, a lot of French horses are 16 hands or 16.1 at a push and they carry lighter weights in France,” continued McGrath.

“So especially when you are bringing them to Britain, you are trying to buy a big enough horse that when the horse comes off the lorry the trainer isn’t thinking ‘oh gosh, this is only a juvenile’.

“You want the frame to be there and hopefully they can continue on and progress to be a good five-year-old, six-year-old, even 10-year-old chaser if possible.

“When we bought Lulamba, he had the size, the scope and he had that frame there and even now he still has that frame and hopefully there will still be plenty of improvement to come physically.”

Aiming to stop Lulamba’s rise up the chasing ranks is trainer-of-the-moment Dan Skelton, who having won this prize with Tingle Creek candidate L’Eau Du Sud 12 months ago, now saddles recent Cheltenham runner-up Be Aware.

Skelton said: “It’s going to be a good race. I see similarities with L’Eau Du Sud, but there’s also a slight difference as it wouldn’t be impossible that Be Aware went up in trip.

“If he gets beat on Saturday, it would be the last time you see him at two miles.

“It was a good run last time, trying to give 7lb to the mare July Flower was a pretty tall task.”

The Sam Thomas-trained Lump Sum saw the form of his 16-length win over Jax Junior at Uttoxeter franked when the runner-up bolted up at Kempton recently, while an intriguing field of four is complete by Olly Murphy’s Alnilam, who is two from two over fences after a win at Cheltenham in October.

Murphy said: “He’s a head-strong front-runner and hopefully he can get into a rhythm then, fingers crossed, he will have a chance.

“He did just that at Cheltenham and he actually stays very well at two miles as well.

“We’ve obviously got a lot of respect for the opposition but he’ll certainly put everyone’s jumping to the test with the speed he will go round there and hopefully he will stand up to the challenge himself.

“We’re looking forward to running him, this has been the plan since Cheltenham and he’s going there a really fresh horse.”