"I look up to guys like Mark Oulaghan and John Wheeler and for them to be on the same page as my name really means something to me."
This Saturday, Bidlake can go one step further by joining Wheeler and Oulaghan in the record book as Eric The Viking goes forward to the Grand National Steeplechase.
Eric The Viking may have won his first steeplechase as recently as July 12, but Bidlake is looking forward to the fearsome 5600m of the Grand National. "I honestly thought the 4000m of the Koral might be too short for him on the slightly better ground than usual. He's a real fighter and a stayer, I haven't got to the slightest worry about the extreme distance of the National."
Bidlake had no family background in racing, but fell in love with the industry simply going to the races as a schoolboy. "I went working at the stables in the morning before school and when I left school I got a job with Jim Wallace at Ardsley Stud.
"I was there 4 years and knew that's what I wanted to do for life. When I turned 18 I took out an owner/trainers' licence, got a horse, Bonnie Blair, and she won for me third time to the races.
"There was no going back then."
Bidlake did whatever he could to stay in racing, supplementing income by working part time as a plasterer. "It wasn't really until the big year I had with this horse [Eric The Viking] that things picked up."
That was in 2010, when Eric The Viking collected $84,375 in winning the Opunake Cup and Whyte Hcp on consecutive Saturdays.
However, Saturday's Grand National will mean more. "He's come through this win extremely well, but I knew he would.
"Last year at this meeting, he finished second to Snodroptwinkletoes in the maiden steeplechase on the Wednesday and was in great shape when he backed up four days later to finish third behind Krase on the last day."
Almost every year a brilliant, speedy jumper will be in the betting market in the Grand National Hurdles on Wednesday only to find the distance too tough and drop out late.
Prestigiosa, winner of Saturday's Sydenham Hurdles, looks exactly the type to suit the Grand National Hurdles distance.
It took the prodigious length of the Riccarton home straight for Prestigiosa to grab stablemate Sonny Ben to put herself in contention for Grand National favouritism.
The grey mare has had just three hurdle races - not the usual Grand National build-up - but the astute Kevin Myers will have put the background work into her. She looked in rock-hard condition on Saturday and will be a fit mare on Wednesday.
Connections will adopt a wait-and-see policy on Tim for Saturday's Grand National Steeplechase.
Tim suffered head trauma when he crashed over the fallen Dane Ruler at the last fence of Saturday's Koral Steeplechase.
"It was a real shame, he planted his head on to the ground when he fell and gave himself a decent whack," said trainer Dean Cunningham.
"He had blood from both nostrils when he came back, but when they scoped him they found nothing serious. He seems okay this morning, he's running around his paddock and eating, but we'll monitor him each day.
"It's a matter of how big a headache he's got."
Dane Ruler fractured a leg in the fall and had to be put down.
