Henry Dwyer says his jumper Brungle Bertie will be primed to cause a boilover against Stern Idol in the Grand National Steeplechase (4500m) when the pair meet at Ballarat on Sunday.
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The $400,000 grand final of the jumps racing calendar has drawn a field of 11 runners, with Brungle Bertie, racing for the Miners Rest stable of Henry Dwyer, set to be one of the favourites in running.
With just 64kg on his back, Brungle Bertie is meeting the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Stern Idol, winner of six of his last seven starts, with a 7kg weight advantage.
The pair did square off in at Sandown earlier this month in the Crisp Steeple, with Brungle Bertie running into trouble when another horse fell in front of him.
"I thought he was going really good in the Crisp, but he got knocked down at the bottom of the hill, a fallen horse nearly took him down," O'Dwyer said.
"He lost 15-20 lengths and the jockey who rode him did say he was about to pull him up, he got hampered that badly. He managed to pick himself up though. He was about 30 lengths behind the second and third horses at the corner that day and he ran them to four or five lengths.
"I think we would have run a clear second there and now we've got a big weight turnaround on the winner that day, so hopefully that makes difference. At 4500m, it's such a long race anything can happen. I think the favourite will go around at about $1.40-$1.50, at the very least I reckon we've got the next best horse in the race."
O'Dwyer said he was confident his eight-year-old gelding has the ability to match it with the best.
"He's got Grand National written all over him," O'Dwyer said. "He stays all day and we actually thought we would have a heavy track this late in winter in Ballarat, but we've had a bit of a dryer winter than we expected.
"But he's in good form and we are looking forward to see how he goes on Sunday. Hopefully we do get some rain over the weekend, the more the better for us."
The Grand National is on Sunday afternoon at Ballarat at 3.15pm.
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