Sir Alex Ferguson was celebrating on Merseyside for the second year running on Thursday as Clan Des Obeaux, the best horse he has owned in nearly 25 years in racing, took the Betway Bowl on the opening day of the Grand National meeting at Aintree.
The former Manchester United manager had an interest in two runners in the race, and the money beforehand suggested that Protektorat, from the Dan Skelton yard, was fancied to land the first Grade One win of his career. Clan Des Obeaux was always travelling sweetly for Harry Cobden, however, at a track that plays to his strengths, and despite idling on the run-in he got home by a length from the Irish Gold Cup winner, Conflated.
