Jockey change in the National!
2.25pm John Francome, the reigning champion jockey, will miss this year’s Grand National, as he is apparently still feeling the effects of a tumble he took during Friday’s racing at Aintree. He was due to be aboard Pengrail, who was fifth in the betting this morning at about 12-1. Pengrail was a Cheltenham Festival winner a couple of years ago, in the Sun Alliance Chase, but he hasn’t looked the heartiest of battlers since and it’s possible that Francs isn’t missing out on a whole lot here. Anyway, Ron Atkins gets the leg-up instead.
2.20pm So could it be a big day for raiders from across the Irish Sea? Monksfield takes on Night Nurse in our next race at 2.35pm and of course the Irish are fairly well represented in the Grand National with five runners. One could fret about their lack of recent success in the big race – L’Escargot a couple of years back has been their only winner since Mr What in 1958 – but there seems to be plenty of confidence behind Davy Lad, forecast to start favourite in your morning papers. He looked a real stayer when winning last month’s Gold Cup, plugging on from the back to take a narrow gap between Summerville and Tied Cottage on the run to the final fence. Of course, it helped that the three most fancied horses fell or were brought down that day but any Gold Cup winner is going to look well treated with just 10st 13lb to carry. He’s got 9lb less than Red Rum, for crying out loud! Could Red Rum have won that Gold Cup? Er, no …
2.15pm An early blow has been struck for the veterans by Skymas, who defied his years and top weight to score a battling victory in the opener. It didn’t look at all likely as a bunch of rivals surged past him after the third-last and Menehall’s backers must have been on excellent terms with themselves when he went on at that point from Vaguely Attractive. He hit the wall almost immediately, however, and it was the Tony Dickinson outsider Santon Brig who swept past on the run to the last. But it looks like Skymas knows where the winning post is because he powered forward under a determined Mouse Morris to hit the front with a few yards to spare. That’s a nice win for the County Antrim trainer Bryan Lusk and another highlight for Northern Ireland’s best horse. Zip Fastener was a bit zippy for his own good, setting the early pace but looking a spent force by the time he belted the fourth-last.
2pm And they’re off … Skryne has the early lead. Zip Fastener and Spanish Tan are up there … If you took a chance on the outsider Graigue House, it’s not looking great, he can’t go the early pace … Zip Fastener’s gone on now … Mistake by Spanish Tan there and he’s coming under pressure … Here comes Skymas, but there’s a few still in this … Menehall takes it up with two to jump … Santon Brig now making a big move … No, it’s Skymas after all!
1.55pm They’re down at the start for the opener, the Sun Ratings Limited Handicap Chase. Skymas is the big name here, having won the Two Mile Champion Chase for the second time last month. But obviously that means he gets more weight than the others, 12 stone, in fact. You’d think he’d be favourite anyway but evidently punters want to take on the 12-year-old and they’ve gone with a couple of horses from the power yards of Fulke Walwyn and Fred Rimell; that’s Menehall and Zip Fastener, now joint-favourites at 9-2. Menehall, of course, won this race last year, one of five wins for him last season, but this winter has been less fruitful and he doesn’t have any secrets from the handicapper. Things have certainly been coming together for Zip Fastener, who’s won three of his last four, but this is a step up in class. Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Chris Hawkins has gone with that hefty Scottish chaser, Tom Morgan, who was third to Skymas at Cheltenham last year and won the Grand Annual last month.
1.50pm Those of you watching the BBC’s coverage may have noticed a difference to this year’s coverage, to wit the absence of David Coleman, who normally presents Grandstand from Aintree on Grand National day. Alas for his admirers, Mr Coleman has been in a contract dispute with Auntie since the end of last year, so Frank Bough has bravely donned what appears to be a tweedy trilby and boarded a train for Lime Street.
So far, sightings of said trilby have been limited, because Grandstand’s producers were mad keen to show us some of the boxing from Wembley this week and of course they could hardly ignore the table tennis world championships taking place in Birmingham. But the gee-gees are now set to take over our screens.
That will also be true if, for some reason, you favour World Of Sport over on ITV, which is showing racing from Ascot and Towcester. They’ve lined up a Barry Sheene documentary for 3.15pm as a way of luring sports fans who haven’t had a bet on the big race. “It’s not for the faint-hearted,” Dickie Davies promises. But are there enough thrill-seekers to support both channels? World Of Sport might have been better off scheduling something specifically for the faint-hearted, who are going to be short of viewing matter this afternoon.
1.45pm Early betting on the National:
8-1 Davy Lad
10-1 Andy Pandy, Gay Vulgan, Red Rum
12-1 Pengrail, Zeta’s Lad
14-1 War Bonnet, Winter Rain
16-1 Eyecatcher, Prince Rock, Sir Garnet, What A Buck
22-1 Sage Merlin
25-1 Sebastian V
28-1 Brown Admiral, Forest Rock
Preamble
It’s Grand National day again, a great sporting tradition dating back to 1839 and interrupted since then only by the world wars. We’ve got 42 runners in the big race this time, chasing a massive £50,000 in prize money, most of it supplied by The News Of The World, now in their third year as sponsors. Which horse will carry your money?
We’ll run through some of the more tempting options a bit later, before the race starts at 3.15pm (BST). Predictably enough, there has been a lot of sentimental backing for dear Red Rum, back in the line-up for the fifth year in a row, and it looks as though the old horse might end up as second-favourite. But the form experts will tell you he’s been a shadow of his former self this winter and the serious money will go elsewhere.
It will probably not go on Barony Fort, who will make a bit of history today as the first Grand National runner to be ridden by a woman. Charlotte Brew has shown herself to be very determined in the build-up and of course the pairing cleared these fences when fourth in the Fox Hunters last year. But this will be a much more severe test of horse and jockey. We’ll reflect on their prospects later.
Aintree racecourse has been in pretty obvious jeopardy since it was bought by a property developer four years ago but the involvement of Ladbrokes in managing the place has helped it recover some of its old spark. There was a real low a couple of years back when just 1,500 people turned up for the Thursday of National week but those numbers have been turned around and this year’s innovation of ditching Flat races from the three-day programme seems to have been well received. Aintree appears to be on its way to building its own festival of jump racing, to rival the March meeting at Cheltenham and indeed the three main heroes from last month’s action will be back to entertain us today. The Gold Cup winner, Davy Lad, will try to follow up in the National while the champion hurdler, Night Nurse, lines up in our second race, the Templegate Hurdle, in about half an hour. First up is the two-mile champion chaser, Skymas, giving weight away to all his rivals in a handicap at 2pm.
It’s been wet and windy in the Liverpool area for the first two days’ racing but the weather has cheered up in time for the big day itself. The going is good to soft and a crowd of 50,000 or so is already lining the rails …
