The Irish jockey, who is aiming to be the first female rider to win the National, is not worried about ground conditions at Aintree ahead of her mount Baie Des Iles’ challenge on SaturdayTony Paley: Katie Walsh, who is aiming to be the first female rider to win the Grand National, is not worried about ground conditions at Aintree for her mount Baie Des Iles’ challenge on Saturday. Related: Fall guy Richard Johnson is still searching for a Grand National mount Hereford 1.40 Mick The Poser 2.10 Llantara (nb) 2.40 Run Don’t Hide 3.10 Surtee Du Berlais (nap) 3.45 Mr Washington 4.15 Cloudy Bob 4.45 Little Rory Mac Continue reading...
Irish trainer Jim Culloty has ‘two or three options’ for a jockey in mind for his Gold Cup-winning 66-1 shot for next week’s race at AintreeOh, Lord. To Windermere or not to Windermere, that is the question. Is it nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous critics and tip him again for the Grand National, or to take another horse this time and, by opposing, ensure he wins?I spoke to trainer Jim Culloty on Friday morning and the news is that Lord Windermere is coming over for the Grand National a week on Saturday. I napped him last year and was gutted to see him boil over in the preliminaries but he still ran a decent race, working...
Trainer Fergal O’Brien is confident the horse will do better than last year when he was struggling with a poisoned footTrust Fergal O’Brien to come up with one of the most interesting things said to me by various Grand National-seeking trainers in the last few days. The Gloucestershire trainer expects to have two runners in the race and was ready with an answer when I asked why Perfect Candidate should do any better than last year’s National, when he was pulled up four from home. Related: Grand National: Go Conquer and the injured As De Mee miss out Wolverhampton 2.10 Mighty Zip 2.40 Flying Sparkle 3.15 Fast Track 3.45 Sunshineandbubbles 4.20 Runaiocht 4.50 Baghdad (nb) 5.20 Ghost Continue reading...
Dry forecast for next five days suggests Aintree runners will face better conditions than those for Monday’s Irish NationalWhen I spoke to Andrew Tulloch, Aintree’s clerk of the course, last night, he jokingly described the going on the Grand National course as “flippers and snorkels stuff”. But the good news is that he doesn’t foresee the race taking place on bad ground a week on Saturday, having been given quite a bit of hope by a dry forecast. Related: Bright object may have fazed Bellshill in Irish Grand National, says Willie Mullins Lingfield 1.40 Ertidaad 2.10 Mime Dance 2.45 Flavius Titus 3.15 Faay 3.45 Newstead Abbey 4.15 Sweet Symphony 4.45 Interlink (nb) 5.15 Night Story Continue reading...
The lameness that showed up at Cheltenham will prevent last year’s runner-up from another spin round Aintree in a fortnight In case you weren’t aware, Cause Of Causes is definitely out of this year’s Grand National, having been runner-up in last year’s race. It’s hardly unexpected news after he ran so deplorably and was found to be lame at the Cheltenham Festival, and the Irish Times finally put a line through him in their racing story yesterday; I think it deserves a headline, as the horse has plenty of followers. I see that he’s still being traded on Betfair. Related: BHA apologises for latest blunder in Kempton Park photo-finish error Wetherby 2.00 Pirate Look 2.30 Away For Slates 3.05 Glance Back...