The biggest steeplechase in Horse Racing is approaching once again. This year’s Grand National takes places on Saturday 11th April at Aintree Racecourse. If possible, the build-up this year has been even greater as it will be the last time that AP McCoy will have a ride in the famous race. The 19 times Champion Jockey announced his intention to retire back in February, and could well have his last ever mount in Saturday’s big race. He has stated he will end his career should he steer Shutthefrontdoor to glory, otherwise he will finish up a fortnight later. It would certainly be a fitting tribute to the greatest ever jockey if he was to bow out that way, but the current favourite is not my idea of the winner.
This race is incredibly hard to pick the winner in but it’s a challenge I’m happy to take on. It is one of only a few races where I will pick three-plus runners such is the competitiveness of the field. The first one I am interested in is the Jim Culloty trained, Spring Heeled. The eight year-old has ran two times this season, finishing fourth on both occasions. It will make him one of the freshest horses in the race, with his latest run coming towards the end of February. He had not run since July, before that, when running fourth in the Galway Plate. That would have been over a distance short of it’s best but the form is there for everyone to see as the winner finished third in this season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup. It was his final two runs of the previous campaign that put him in my mind for this race, however, winning the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival before finishing a staying on fifth in the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown. He jumps as well as anything and will relish the drying ground – with a bit of luck in-running I think he will run a huge race.
Another one I want to be with is Rock Creek for the soon-to-be Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls. This will be the second time he will have ran in this race following a very credible fifth last year. Nicholls was always of the belief that he would be a much more likely candidate this season following another year’s experience, and he could well be right. Everything has been campaigned around this one race and he could not have been more impressive winning his prep race when he defeated a very decent field by six lengths at Kempton. He has shown a liking for the course, jumps and travels extremely well, and the fact he is two pounds lower is another reason to be very hopeful. He deserves his place towards the front of the market and I am very surprised he is not clear favourite. Everything is in place for another huge run and his trainer cannot do anything wrong this season.
At bigger prices, I want to keep Saint Are on side. His chance may not be the most obvious having finished a 50-length ninth in his only other attempt at the race. That was two years ago when he bopped along out the back for long periods before attempting to get involved in the last mile, ultimately fading. He would not be the first horse to improve for his first attempt at the National, however. Tim Vaughan’s charge is in much better form this season having finishes third on three occasions before winning last time out. That form has seen Saint Are go up 14 pounds but he enjoys it at Aintree having won. Grade 1 hurdle and Listed chase in 2011 and 2012, respectively. At the age of nine he is much more likely to have a better run round than his attempt two years ago and with Paddy Brennan on board, he has the services of a man who has tasted success in the Scottish National and Gold Cup.
I may have smaller interests on a couple of others but I will wait until closer to the time before deciding which of the other outsiders I back. It’s a race everybody enjoys a bet in but selecting a few and reducing your stakes is the way to go. Backing five still only gives you an eighth of the field which serves as a warning of his difficult it can be to find a winner in the most famous races of all. Many bookmakers will offer enhanced terms for each way backers so I advise you looking around. At the time of writing the bookmakers I have priced below are quarter the odds for the first four places – but all are top priced for my selections.
Selections:
Spring Heeled 22/1 each way @ William Hill
Rocky Creek 10/1 each way @ Ladbrokes
Saint Are 40/1 each way @ William Hill
