b g Un Desperado (FR) - Isis (Deep Run)
The winner of an Irish point-to-point in March, 2003, Philson Run had his first run under Rules when winning a Wincanton hunter chase in February, 2004. He sustained a tendon injury and did not run again until Boxing Day of that year when he reappeared in a handicap chase on the same course, but lost his action and was pulled up four out. It was a different horse that contested a handicap chase at Chepstow three weeks later. Staying on strongly, he pulled clear of Nigel Twiston-Davies' Prominent Profile and earned himself a place in the Midlands Grand National in March, 2005. The Uttoxeter race was only his fourth under Rules and the horse had suffered from both wind and leg problems, but the setbacks and his inexperience proved no barrier and, with Paul Carberry up, won a very competitive renewal of the contest. In his last race of the season, he finished seventh in the Scottish Grand National. His first experience of the Aintree fences was not a happy one, the horse failing to negotiate Valentines, the very first fence in the totesport Becher Chase in November, 2005. After the Becher Chase, the horse had no sort of run in the Welsh National, but came back to form with a vengeance in February, 2006, when running the race of his life to take the Eider Chase at Newcastle. For the 2006/07 season, Philson Run was specifically aimed at the John Smith's Grand National, and did not see a racecourse before lining up in the Grade Three Red Square Vodka Gold Cup in February, 2007, where the gelding made a bad mistake when beginning to challenge two fences from home, eventually finishing fourth behind Heltornic. In the John Smith's Grand National, Philson Run ran a fantastic race on ground many considered too fast for him, finishing a gallant fourth behind Silver Birch. This season, all roads have again led to Aintree, and Philson Run made his first appearance of the campaign in the Grade Three totesport.com Classic Chase at Warwick on January 12, where the 12-year-old revelled in the heavy ground to finish second behind D'Argent. Philson Run appeared in the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup for a second time on February 16, but the gelding made several mistakes before being brought down by Sixo five fences from home.
Race Record: Starts: 16; 1st: 4; 2nd: 2; 3rd: 0; Win & Place Prize Money: £169,309
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AINTREE GRAND NATIONAL 2008
