We have entered
race month, and punters are beginning to put the finishing touches to
their Grand National 2018 bets as the final field begins to take
shape. Last year’s winner One For Arthur misses out on a shot at
two-in-row due to a season-wrecking tendon injury, so we will have a
new champion.
Who will that
be? The recent trends tell us 25/1 shots fare well in the nation’s
favourite handicap steeplechase, with two of the last four champions
scoring at that very price. Those were Pineau De Re for Richard
Newland in 2014 and Many Clouds 12 months later for Oliver Sherwood.
To strengthen
that stat a little further, we also had 25/1 poke Saint Are place
third last year. How much can be taken from a price? It’ll be
interesting to find out and although they were starting prices and
we’re still at the ante-post stage at the time of writing there are
three horses carrying the magic price tag.
Do any of them
tickle your fancy in this year’s Aintree 4m 2f slog over 30 fences?
Timeform’s
Grand National runner-by-runner guide covers the latest field but
below you’ll find three eye-catchers at big odds worth keeping
close.
Seeyouatmidnight
First, we have
this plucky 10-year-old gelding out of the Sandy Thomson yard.
Scottish trained horses don’t have the best record in the Grand
National but One For Arthur upset the odds last year and there’s no
reason Seeyouatmidnight can’t take the nation’s tally to three
with a quick-fire double.
Odds compilers
appear to be largely undecided over the chances of the bay, with
quotes ranging from 25/1 to 20/1 but there’s no doubt he has their
full attention as we approach the flag. He warmed up for the trip to
Merseyside with a third-place finish around Newbury in the Doom Bar
Handicap Chase. Run over 2m 3f, that was little more than a chance to
keep warm for the big one and he got nowhere near winner Tiquer on
the day but there’s plenty more to come from him.
That run ended a
year-long absence from action, with a runner-up spot at Kelso in
March 2017 behind Big River his penultimate test. Connections needed
to appear in a chase to qualify for the
bumper prize and the Newbury spin gave them that. We won’t read too
much into the run other than he handled himself well, given the time
away.
Gold Present
A runner that is
backed by just about every one of the recent Grand National winning
trends is Gold Present, who also carries a 25/1 price. Nicky
Henderson has his string in fine shape at this time of year and
this eight-year-old is no exception. He was pulled-up at Cheltenham
in the Ultima Handicap Chase in March over 3m 1f but that shouldn’t
put backers off, as many National kings failed to fire at Prestbury
Park in the build-up.
Gold Present has
won two of his last three outings, including victory in the Silver
Cup at Ascot in December off a chunky 17/2. Pre-race favourite
Singlefarmpayment was nowhere to be seen that day as Nico de
Boinville got his mount home three lengths ahead of runner-up Frodon.
As well as the result, backers were impressed by the victor’s round
of jumping and smart turn of foot on the run-in. That was over 2m 7f
so it’s difficult to judge but he appeared to have plenty in
reserve when driving for the finish line, leaving the pack trailing.
He has many
positives to pick through but one negative for players is he has run
at Aintree only once before and failed to finish, falling in the
Topham Handicap Chase last year - a contest won by Ultragold. If Gold
Present stays on his feet, he’ll be a major player at the business
end of the afternoon.
Rathvinden
There's a
fantastic 25/1 price hanging off this progressive 10-year-old and
that’s made to look all the better by the fact he goes to Liverpool
as a recent
Cheltenham Festival winner. Trained by Willie Mullins, he’ll be
popular with casual backers on the day as well as those who saw him
scoot home in the National Hunt Challenge Cup, where he finished ½ a
length better than Ms Parfois.
Patrick Mullins
sat in the saddle there and it’ll be interesting to see if he
returns on April 14th but, if he does, punters won’t be
shy in getting their money down at an attractive price. Unlike the
hopefuls mentioned above, Rathvinden has already proven his fitness
with that Cheltenham win coming over 3m 7f.
The National
goes over an extended trip, of course, but he showed fight at the
finish to hold off the runner-up in March and if he’s competitive
in the Grand National, we should see plenty more of that
determination to compete.
England lead the way in recent trends
Surprisingly,
the Irish have a poor recent record of producing winners vs the UK
and, in particular, England but Willie Mullins has given us one past
champion back in 2005. Hedgehunter was the star of the show that year
but he was rather shorter in the betting, scoring off an SP 7/1
favourite. Seeyouatmidnight carries the saltire as they double-up but
Gold Present has the backing of the nation trends, as he was
sharpened by Englishman Nicky Henderson at his Lambourn yard.
Henderson has
never won the Grand National during his career as a trainer but when
speaking to the media recently, he told race fans with an ear to the
ground he was hopeful Gold Present could change all that. The
four-time champion trainer has finished runner-up on two occasions
with Zongalero in 1979 and The Tsarevich in 1987.
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