Ever heard of Palypso De Creek? If you answer no then you’re not alone because up until this morning, despite what I like to think of as a reasonably good knowledge of horses, I hadn’t heard of him either. But, according to Racing Post today, “Palypso De Creek will line up in the Totesport.com Becher Chase at Aintree on Sunday for what could be a first step on the road to the John Smith’s Grand National next spring”.

We don’t know a huge amount about him other than the fact that he is French import and trained by Charlie Longsdon. He has had one run over hurdles in the UK last month at Towcester, which he won with Tom Siddall riding him, but will only be having his first run over fences in Britain when he tackles the 3m2f contest in the Totesport.com Becher Chase at Aintree on Sunday 22nd November 2009. He has had 11 lifetime chase starts resulting in two wins, two seconds and a third place.

And though I don’t deny Longsdon only has the best of intentions for his horse, the chances of him getting anywhere in the 2010 Grand National appear to be very slim. Did I mention he’s only 6 years old and his form isn’t very consistent – 071P6-1! But I can understand the trainer giving him a run out with a view at looking at his long term potential but I think it’ll be a couple of years of UK steeple chase racing to get him into real contention for a race with the magnitude of the Grand National.

At least Longsdon doesn’t totally disagree with me having said “The Grand National is an option for him and we want to see how he takes to the fences. If he doesn’t jump them, we will have to scrap those plans, but if he runs well then we will have to consider coming back in April. We will find out a lot more about him on Sunday.”

For all the ante-post odds available for the 2010 Grand National just go to Paddy Power.