The Grand National 2011

4.15pm, 9th April and the great race will be underway. The Midnight Club has been all the rage in the betting shops over the last few days, especially with Ruby Walsh confirmed as taking the ride, but the ten-year-old is actually relatively inexperienced and is plenty short enough in the betting for a race of the nature of the Grand National. Nina Carberry will be attempting to become the first woman to win the race having been confirmed as the partner for Character Building again this year. The pair finished seventh in 2010 and she is more than capable of giving the chaps a run for their money. Well backed Quinz must have a chance having advertised his well being at Kempton winning the Racing Post Chase in the style of a good animal. There has also been some money for Big Fella Thanks in recent weeks and the nine-year-old is yet another big player having finished fourth in the race last year. A little money has also come for Junior since the gelding won the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival.
What A Friend, part owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, will have his backers after a gallant effort in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham and Gordon Elliott will not be sending Backstage across the Irish Sea just for a day out. Don’t Push It of course memorably gave A P McCoy his first Grand National victory last year and is available at around 16-1 to repeat the feat. Another Irish raider is Oscar Time and the bay gelding is available at a best priced 12-1. Ballabriggs trained by Donald McCain, son of Ginger, will be carrying the hopes of many, Niche Market has an each-way chance and Silver By Nature won the National Trial at Haydock in February and are all others to consider. Ballyfitz was second at Haydock in the National Trial and is one of the horses at a bigger price that might just be there or thereabouts at the finish.
I put Hello Bud in the www.girdysgeegees.blogspot.com Dirty Dozen at the start of the season and I will not be deserting the Twiston-Davies thirteen-year-old at this stage. The horse has been specifically trained with the race in mind this year and he won the Becher Chase nicely earlier this season. He has won the Somerset, Southern and Scottish Nationals in his time and finished fifth here last year. At a best priced 33-1 he looks a great each-way punt to me. Usual pilot Sam Twiston-Davies will be getting the leg-up from his father Nigel and I am convinced you will get a good run for you money out of the thirteen-year-old.
Be lucky



Like no other race in the world The Grand National brings together people of all ages to have a flutter. The famous fences of Aintree racecourse on the outskirts of Liverpool have provided one of the most formidable tests in horseracing since 1839. It should be remembered that in those early years the runners had to jump a stone wall (now the water jump) and cross a stretch of plough land making the race an even greater challenge than today! Thousands of spectators visit each year to cheer on their chosen charge and literally millions will be settled in at their local watering hole or in their front rooms to watch on TV as the runners and riders set off over the marathon four-and-a-half-mile trip and undertake the small matter of tackling 30 challenging fences.
Few racecourses in the world can boast fences known by children, grandmas and regular punters alike. Just the mention of names such as The Chair, The Canal Turn and Beechers Brook and your thoughts are immediately of Aintree in April. Legends have been made and dreams shattered at the famous track with names such as three time winner Red Rum, Devon Loch, who inexplicably unseated Dick Francis within a couple of strides of the line losing the race when it was at his mercy, and of course the fairytale that was Aldaniti and Bob Champion taking on almost mythical status with the general public and hardened racegoers alike. One of the more heroic, or lucky, performances in the National depending on your opinion was put in by Rhyme ‘N’ Reason in 1988. Having sprawled on landing at Beechers Brook the nine year-old bay gelding, ably assisted by Brendan Powell in the saddle, managed to carry on and went on to win (in truth your author only mentions this, and comes down firmly on the side of those believing it to be a heroic performance, having had a significant investment on the horse in question ante-post at 12-1).
The meeting of course isn’t just about The National with some of the best thoroughbred steeplechasers taking their chances in valuable races throughout the three day Aintree Grand National Meeting. Many of the runners from the Cheltenham Festival renew rivalries and races to watch for over the three days include the Foxhunters’ Steeple Chase, Topham Steeple Chase and Aintree Hurdle.