War Not Over For Attrition

Things started to look very bright indeed for War of Attrition and trainer Mouse Morris when, ridden by Conor O’ Dwyer at the Cheltenham Gold Cup on St Patrick’s Day 2006, he pulled out all the stops and was victorious, taking the blue riband of steeplechasing from the previous year’s Grand National winner Hedgehunter. The victory obviously delighted all of Ireland as it meant that an Irish horse had taken one of racing’s most prestigious prizes on St Patricks Day.

Then on the 16th October 2008, War of Attrition again proved his mettle by winning the Star Chase at Punchestown, the grade 3 race for four year old horses and older, run over a distance of two miles and six furlongs. The race was an exciting showdown between two former Cheltenham Gold Cup Champions, War of Attrition and Kicking King. War of Attrition shocked everyone with his outstanding performance given that he had suffered injuries and hadn’t been on a race track for 658 days. However he is obviously a horse of stamina, strength and determination, because ridden by Davy Russell, the horse won by nineteen lengths. As Mouse Morris put it on the day: ‘You couldn’t ask for more from the horse.’

It has now in the pipeline for War of Attrition to be entered into the Grand National at Aintree this year. He may only have finished 11th of 18 runners in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in November but Morris could not be happier with the 10 year olds’ current condition, stating ‘he is in good fettle at the moment, why not keep him going? He’ll tell us when he’s had enough.’ If War of Attrition can perform like he has done in the past he is definitely one to look out for this year at Aintree.