Grand National horses from England - South East

Nicky Henderson has been trying to win the Grand National since Zongalero finished second in 1979 but along with The Tsaervich who also finished runner-up in 1987, that first Grand National success still eludes him. The veteran trainer has just one representative still entered in the 2022 Grand National: Caribean Boy. The eight-year-old gelding moved to Henderson from France in 2018 where he had won one race over hurdles. Henderson sent the son of Myboycharlie straight over fences and won two of his first three races before lining up in the Festival Plate at the Cheltenham Festival. Caribean Boy ran really well for a novice to finish seventh and on the strength of that run was made favourite for his nest run in the Topham over the Grand National fences. Things didn’t go to plan that day and after a bad mistake at the eleventh fence the grey gelding was quickly pulled up. Things got off to a slow start this season with a tenth-place finish in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham and then a first fence fall in the Silver Cup at Ascot. Caribean Boy bounced back to form next time out when winning a three-mile handicap chase at Kempton, where he gave the impression there was plenty more to come and looked like a horse to follow for the rest of the season. He then lined-up in the Swinley Chase at Ascot won by Fortescue where he never looked comfortable and was pulled up before the second last fence. It’s difficult to put that poor Ascot run down to the soft ground as he has previously won on heavy ground, but it was reported that he lost a shoe during the race so perhaps he was feeling something due to that. It looks likely that Caribbean Boy will probably rate higher than his current mark at some point in his career, but he definitely doesn’t seem that dependable and appears as likely to throw in a stinker as he is to win. Perhaps the horse still needs to mature more mentally and, if that is the case, a race like the Grand National may not be the best route for him to take, especially as his previous run over these fences did not go well.