Officials are pretty much obliged to give the Irish horse a concession and a chance at a historic third straight winWhat an interesting plot twist in the Tiger Roll story, courtesy of the Irish Times this morning. While Michael O’Leary said several times at the weekend that he didn’t particularly want to run his little star in another Grand National, the owner’s brother, Eddie, has now suggested that what really matters is how Tiger Roll is handicapped and he could run after all if sufficiently well treated.“They say they condense the weights to encourage the good horses to run,” Eddie O’Leary is quoted as saying. “If the National isn’t well condensed, Tiger Roll won’t run. If they want him –...
Around half of the people who bet on the biggest betting race of the year are getting short-changed and the British Horseracing Authority need to help sort this outThe creaky old starting price mechanism should be under fresh scrutiny following Saturday’s Grand National, when the SP over-round (which shows the notional profit margin built into the collective odds) came to 163%. That is only slightly less than the 165% of 2015 that provoked fears of once-a-year punters being ripped off and led to a lengthy review, which waved away those fears in a complacent-sounding report.And so, what a surprise, here we are again with identical concerns and no official body inclined to do anything about them. Sophisticated punters, such as...
The Irish jockey has gone 14 years without winning the National but, at 39, has a good chance of a third victory on SaturdayRuby Walsh, the successful rider in two Grand Nationals, has somehow managed to go 14 years without winning another one but he can enjoy a late-career highlight by landing today’s big race aboard Rathvinden (5.15). Walsh has sometimes managed to miss the National by getting injured in an earlier race but there is no chance of such a mishap this time, as the 9-1 shot is his only mount of the day.Trained by Willie Mullins, Rathvinden looked all over a National contender when cruising through the four-miler at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. It was particularly impressive that...