Grand National!

There are 6 meetings in Britain and Ireland today, but attention will be concentrated on just one of them, and one race in particular, the John Smith´s Grand National, to be run at 17.15 CET this afternoon at Aintree. As usual 40 runners will go to post, with probably less than half of them completing (although the ground is forecast to be perfect) andf the winner collecting 450,000 pounds, which makes it the biggest prize in N.H. racing.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is more prestigious, but this is the race that captures the public imagination. As a handicap, it is wide open, although the weightsare relatively compressed these days and the overall standard of the field much higher than in the days of Red Rum. However he remains the standard by which all Grand Natuonal winners are measured, and there is no doubt that the most popular winner would be the favourite Cloudy Lane (Jason Maguire), trained by Donald McCain jr, son of the legendary Ginger, who trained Red Rum. Cloudy Lane has done nothing wrong, indeed he is "well in" at the weights by some 20 lbs, having showed much improved form since the weights were published. Theoretically he has a great chance, but the history of the race shows that results do not often follow logic. He runs in the colours of Trevor Hemmings, who also has 2005 winner Hedgehunter (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh) to represent him. Hedgehunter, as a CD specialist must be highly respected, though top weights do not have a great record.

Mullins also saddles Snowy Mountain (David Casey), who finished behind Hedgehunter last time, but has a chance on earlier form. However it could be that the best Irish hope is Slim Pickings (Tom Taaffe/ Barry Geraghty), who finished third last year after leading for a long way. His jockey incidentally is one of 3 who must pass thecourse doctor after heavy falls here yesterday, the others being Mick Fitzgerald and Tony Dobbin. Ginger McCain´s record of 4 National wins is equalled by the late Fred Rimell, and there will be plenty of support for Simon (John Spearing/ Dominic Elsworth), owned by his widow. Others for the short list include Comply or Die (David Pipe/ Timmy Murphy) and Chelsea House (Tom Mullins/ Davy Russell), but as always there are at least 20 possible winners and luck in running will play the most important role.

Our choice:

Cloudy Lane - Comply Or Die - Snowy Morning