Saint can land National for the Mullins family
PLENTY will be searching for the name of Tiger Roll when they look at the 40 runners for this year’s Randox Grand National (5.15pm), but sadly connections opted not to attempt a record-equalling third win with the 11-year-old who could be back in 12 months’ time.
The Irish, who notably dominated the Cheltenham Festival and have won three of the last four renewals, are still strongly represented with seven of the first 10 in the betting.
However, the big race favourite is trained on these shores (admittedly by an Irishman) and looks to hold leading claims.
CLOTH CAP has to be on any shortlist having bolted up in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury back in November and prepped for this with an equally impressive win at Kelso.
His big bold jumping style should stand him in good stead here and he certainly wasn’t stopping over four miles in the Scottish version of this race two years ago.
He has blossomed as a chaser since then and will take plenty of beating off a mark that is now a stone below his current rating.
Headline writers around the world will have their pens at the ready if Cheltenham hero Rachael Blackmore can guide Minella Times to victory and become the first female jockey to win the world’s most famous horse race.
The eight-year-old has run really well in two competitive handicaps at Leopardstown recently and is a very sound jumper.
He’s never run over further than three miles though and for that reason I’m siding with former Irish Grand National winner BURROWS SAINT as my main selection.
Trainer Willie Mullins teams up with his son Patrick for this interesting contender who has had this race as his main target for nearly two years now.
The key to him is a sound surface and he has won all three chases he has run in where the word good appears in the going description.
Conditions should be ideal for him and I make him the leading contender at 10/1 with Betway from a yard that continues to dominate the sport.
Another Irish contender who was laid out for this race 12 months ago before the Covid-19 pandemic forced the meeting to be abandoned is ANY SECOND NOW.
Trainer Ted Walsh knows how to ready one for this contest having landed the race back in 2000 with Papillon.
He showed his well-being with a facile success over two miles at Navan last month and is interesting now stepped up in trip.
Despite the fact that he fell in Burrows Saint’s Irish Grand National a couple of years ago, he showed plenty of stamina when winning the Kim Muir with a big weight on his previous start to that spill.
It was hard to leave off the likes of Anibale Fly and Magic Of Light who have both run well in this race before, but I’m going with one at a monster price with my last dart.
It requires a bit more creativity to make a case out for 66/1 shot ALPHA DES OBEAUX who fell at the 15thwhen last attempting this race back in 2019.
He returned to these fences in the 2019 Becher Chase and ran well to be third behind Walk In The Mill with a monster weight.
Kimberlite Candy, who is a leading fancy for this race, finished second that day but meets Alpha Des Obeaux on 21lbs worse terms.
Plenty of bookmakers are offering each-way terms that stretch to six or seven places and that is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility for a horse that should jump and stay.
He finished fourth in the Glenfarclas Chase at Cheltenham and this trip may just be bang up his street these days.
Bill Esdaile’s Randox Grand National 1-2-3-4
- BURROWS SAINT
- CLOTH CAP
- ANY SECOND NOW
- ALPHA DES OBEAUX