2019 Grand National

The ground will actually be better for tiger roll this year you’d think

Was heavy last year and elliot has said he prefers good ground

Very good point FF. No way of knowing for sure but i think Tiger Roll would of won last years race easily on better ground. Not often you can call the winner of the National a long way out but you could with him that day. It was interesting to hear his trainer talking about his discussion with the Irish handicapper who said he would of put him up 5 – 10 lb for his XC win.

Saying all that been very keen on Rathvinden for this all year and when you look down the list to see him sitting at number 19 he does look very well in considering his last run. Alpha Des Obeaux was second top weight for this and Rathvinden really took the mickey out of him the last day on his first run back.

Have no doubts at all that both of them would of run with credit in the Gold Cup this year. It’s a pretty hard race to be confident in, but i think whoever beats those two will win it given a clear round.

I hope Walk In The Mill does win after reading this

For the connections of horses on the cusp of a guaranteed start in the Randox Health Grand National, the next few days will be an anxious wait to see if they squeak into the big race.

One of those on the outside looking in is Walk In The Mill, who is trained by Robert Walford. The nine-year-old sits 45th on the list, but Walford has adopted a phlegmatic attitude with regards to Saturday.

“There’s nothing we can do, we’ll just confirm tomorrow and see what happens,” the trainer said on Sunday.

Walford’s disposition is all the more commendable given that Walk In The Mill was all set to run in the Grand National last season before lameness on the morning of the big race led to eleventh-hour agony.

In December, Walk In The Mill won the Becher Chase over the National fences, but when asked whether that victory should have confirmed participation for this Grand National – a ‘win and you’re in’ situation, Walford disagreed.

He added: “A handicap is a handicap. The highest-rated horses get in and I think that’s how it should it stay. What if the winner was rated 132 or something, it wouldn’t work well.”

Should Walk In The Mill miss out, owner Baroness Dido Harding and Walford still have National ambitions as the horse is entered for the Scottish equivalent at Ayr a week later.

“There’s four horses that have Topham entries so who knows what they’ll do,” Walford added. “He’s in good form and if we don’t get in we’ll probably go to Ayr.

“We got dropped a pound because the Becher form didn’t work out very well and that would have made all the difference. There’s nothing we can do and it’s just one of those things.”

Speaking on the matter, Aintree clerk of the course Andrew Tulloch said: “It hasn’t really been discussed. The Grand National is a race everyone wants to have runners in, we always love to take the best 40 horses who wish to run.”

Such a sporting gesture deserves a reward. So I’ve got to put my money on him.

Ms Parfois out owing to injury and the drying ground. Yet another high profile absentee.

That is a total misrepresentation of what Honeyball said, GM!
…And I think you know it.

Is anyone going to be silly enough to buy Don Poli or Outlander? They’re both gone at the game.

Don’t tell me what I think, Ginger, my comment reflects my interpretation of his unsolicited opinion. If you interpret his words differently, fine.

Don’t tell me what I think, Ginger, my comment reflects my interpretation of his unsolicited opinion. If you interpret his words differently, fine.

I am not telling you what you think, GM. I am telling you that what you are claiming Honeyball said is incorrect and therefore a total misrepresentation of what he said.

Where did Honeyball “criticise the judgement of his fellow trainers for running horses” in the NH Chase? Please show where he said this and quote him.

I put Yala Enki in my Grand National short-list (without backing him) in case it came up soft/heavy, but that’s highly unlikely now. All his form is on very soft ground.