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1:20 – Carrigmoornaspruce
2:00 – Slade Steel and Regents Stroll
2:40 – Feet of a Dancer
3:20 – Ma Shantou
4:00 – Impaire Et Passe NAP
4:40 – Bold Endeavour
5:20 – Waterford WhispersRacing media chasing headlines and “stories” like Lionel Hutz chasing ambulances. So cringe.
I hope the favourite hacks up, but I’ll have a small wager on Lauret D’Estruval at a big price.
Tough one to figure out. Desertmore House and Final Orders might be better treated than the top two, so I’ll opt for them.
Koktail Divin and Wendigo are worth a go. Shame we’ve had non runners as the big field was a refreshing change to the usual numbers we get. I imagine most of these will be in next year’s Grand National as opposed to the Gold Cup.
1.20 – Skylight Hustle
2.00 – Koktail Divin NAP
2.40 – Jinko Blue
3.20 – Desertmoor House
4.00 – Leau Du Sud and Il Etait Temps
4.40 – Ballysax Hank
5.20 – The Mourne RamblerLoads of old favourites here and plenty you could make cases for. Leave of Absence is a big enough price and I’ll have a small go.
I expect one of the top two to take it (I’d side with Lulamba) but for a bit of each way fun in case one or both of them bomb out I’ll have a small go on Jax Junior.
I’ve missed the price, but Sober Glory could upset the applecart here. Also fancy Mydaddypaddy to bounce back.
1:20 – Mydaddypaddy
2:00 – Lulamba
2:40 – Madness D’Elle
3:20 – Jagwar and Leave of Absence
4:00 – Golden Ace
4:40 – Downmexicoway
5:20 – Newton Tornado NAPNot a race I got mad in, but I’ve landed on two. No Ordinary Joe looks to have been laid out for this and Afadil went close in this last year and is weighted to go well again.
My pre-weights shortlist reads:
Flooring Porter – Stable form to one side, I can’t unsee that Kerry National performance last season. Something to prove after his layoff, but I’m not reading a thing into his comeback run.
Handstands – Stamina to prove, but he’s in the right hands. He wouldn’t be my typical National selection, but I just get the feeling he has something in hand.
L’Homme Presse – Been waiting years for him to take up this engagement. His current mark is high enough, but he’s been running well this season despite the stable form, which is a boost in itself.
Panic Attack – Could be a Skelton special. It’s touch and go if she will get in as I don’t think bottom weight will be too far away from 147.
Resplendent Grey – My idea of the likeliest winner. He’ll have the right man on board and ticks plenty of boxes. Can’t believe he’s still such a backable price.
The Real Whacker – Another one I’ve waited ages to see line up here. He has looked way out of sorts this season, but has consequently dropped to a decent mark.There are a bunch of Irish plots that will take the eye I’m sure after the weights this afternoon, and it’d be foolish not to have one or two of them on side, but for the time being I’m siding with this rogues gallery.
They argue that it adds to the build up, but in truth no one is paying any notice to anything other than Cheltenham at this point.
The Tuesday after Cheltenham would be the ideal time to reveal weights. Scupper those plots which make the season demoralising to watch at times while also giving everyone as much time as reasonably possible to get their marks up if they need a few more pounds to get in.
Make the build-up a neat three week affair:
Week 1: Weight reveal.
Week 2: Final scratchings.
Week 3: Declarations and race.The sooner they do away with this corporate weights lunch two months in advance the better.
There are incremental changes they could make to assist with catering the race towards it’s intended clientele.
The prize money definitely contributes to the issue in my opinion. I would halve it as a minimum, if not more and put it into the supporting races. Drive their value up.
I would increase the minimum number of chase runs required. I hate seeing runners having their sixth run over fences in the National. I think it’s begging for trouble. On top of that I would turn the minimum “runs” into minimum “completions”. The annual National each way pickers will gavitate towards a race that has recurring characters, names they recognise from the previous years or from catching the odd Saturday race.
The rule of “finishing in the first 4 in a race over 3 miles” is painfully flawed. Finish 4th beaten out of sight in a 5 runner chase and you’re qualified. Finish 5th beaten 3 lenths in a 20 runner handicap and you’re not. The rule should be to finish “placed” in a 3 mile chase utilising standard each way terms.
Ruby Walsh once suggested a rule of having to have finished in the first four in a 3 mile chase in one of your last 3 runs, which I didn’t think was the worst idea in the world, espeically if you applied the “placed” rule instead. His argument is you don’t just want the top rated, you want the best ‘in form’ rated runners.
I just don’t see how you can police a cap on runners from owners or trainers. I was pig sick seeing 10 no hopers taking up places in the 2019 renewal to make Tiger Roll’s job easier and I was keen to see a cap introduced, but I just can’t see how it can work.
I do believe ‘win and you’re in’ has scope, conceptually. However I almost feel like if you’re going to go down that route, why not go full Pertemps Final and have the race limited to qualifiers? Have a wide range of races that you must place in to qualify for a run in the Grand National? They’ve changed the race so radically already, why not experiment further? Won’t do the race any more harm.
I’m not talking about fences this year. I’ve mentioned my idea about park fences dressed in spruce enough.
I’m 99% sure that one of them is Sebastian. Pretty sure I’ve read something confirming this.
The other one is a little more ambiguous, but I think the cloth reads 9, which would make him Andy Pandy. The loose horse also appears to have a very small star on his head, which marries up with Andy Pandy (the 1977 Whitbread offers better viewing of his finer features).
So the two (admittedly) loose horses who beat Rummy home that day both fell at Bechers when leading. It’s easy to forget how fortuitous that third win was when you consider the two falling leaders mentioned, Boom Docker’s bizarre refusal at the 17th when well clear of the remainder, Sage Merlin’s fall at the Chair who was Boom Dockers main persuer at the time and himself quite a way clear of the others (though his rider once replied to a comment of mine on Facebook that he was all out at the time!), and of course the shuddering mistake by Churchtown Boy at the second last.
You could write dissertations on some of those old Nationals. Wonderful stuff.
