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...
Great British Racing showcase the athleticism of modern-day jockeys in the build up to Saturday’s big raceFor the first 30 seconds of a 40-second workout this week, the Equiciser was almost fun. Poised, sort of, in the stirrups of a wooden horse while pushing at its head in a vague approximation of a rhythm, it was possible to wonder for a moment if the physical demands on a jockey are really as formidable as they always like to claim.For the last 10 seconds, it was torture, for this make-believe jockey at least. As it started to dawn on the muscles in my thighs that it really was the intention to stay balanced in the stirrups for a few moments longer,...
Superpower trainers and owners are dominating the world’s most famous race but it could be a mistake to put limits on the numbers they can runGordon Elliott looks like having 13 runners in Saturday’s Grand National, smashing the record for a single trainer in the race, which was the 10 run by Martin Pipe in 2001. Michael O’Leary’s maroon and white silks will be carried by seven runners, or possibly nine if Don Poli and Outlander fail to sell at auction on Thursday evening.All of this has revived talk on social media about whether trainers and owners should be allowed to run as many as they please, and I think we can expect more of such talk in the build-up...