Hot favourite Cloth Cap heads the betting for the world’s most famous race at Aintree on SaturdayThe bold-jumping grey is a magnificent sight when he gets into a rhythm and is the best horse in the race on form, including Grade One wins in 2017, 2018 and 2020. This being a handicap, though, that also means he carries top weight and though hardly over the hill at 10, there should be one or two at the other end of the handicap to beat him for speed on the run-in, especially on ground that is quicker than he prefers. Related: Talking Horses: Tiger Roll is back at Aintree, but not in the right race Related: Grand National’s enduring charm embodied by...
The dual Grand National winner lines up over traditional fences on Thursday and misses his chance for Aintree immortalityTiger Roll, one of Aintree’s – and racing’s – favourite sons, returns to Liverpool on Thursday for what may well be the final time in a truly extraordinary career. From one angle, he is 363 days too late, from another he has turned up two days early – and by 3pm it could be both.There is an alternative reality in which Tiger Roll is 48 hours away from a possible date with destiny, and the tilt at a record-equalling third Grand National win which his illustrious record deserves. Michael O’Leary, his owner, thought long and hard about the weight his remarkable little...
The three-day Grand National meeting at Aintree opens on Thursday with Tiger Roll set to be the centre of attentionThe three-day Grand National meeting at Aintree opens on Thursday with Tiger Roll set to be the centre of attention as he faces eight rivals in a bid to add the Grade One Betway Bowl Chase to his remarkable list of high-profile victories.The five-time Cheltenham Festival winner and dual Grand National hero has become a household name without taking on top staying chasers at level weights. But owners Gigginstown House Stud decided to make an exception this time, and Tiger Roll runs at Aintree on Thursday – rather than last Monday’s Irish Grand National or the Grand National at the weekend....
Without wishing to be too Grinch-y, here are a few reasons why 17 April may not be workable for the Aintree showpieceThere was a rare show of unity between trainers and bookmakers on Tuesday as leading names including Nigel Twiston-Davies and Evan Williams lent their support to an idea floated by the betting industry that this year’s Grand National should be put back a week to 17 April, five days after betting shops are due to re-open in England.And it is not, on the face of it, a bad idea at all. Online betting is all very well, but when it comes to the National, walking out of a shop clutching a slip which could turn into hard cash later...
Tiger Roll makes a surprise return on the Flat as the chaser starts his build-up to a bid at Grand National historyTiger Roll, the Grand National winner in 2018 and 2019, already has strong claims to be the most versatile National Hunt horse in training as well as the most popular, and he will attempt to break new ground once again on Thursday by recording his first win on the Flat at the age of 10.“It’ll be a racecourse gallop and he’ll come on plenty for the run, but it’s a nice starting point for the season,” his trainer, Gordon Elliott said on Tuesday. “We don’t think he’s going to be winning it, we just want him to have a...