Ah, Lord Windermere, and the pity of his Aintree boilover. But One For Arthur was deeply impressiveSo, Lord Windermere, then. I felt he ran well enough to reassure me that I hadn’t been seeing things when I took a shine to him, although he never looked a likely winner after the tape went up on Saturday. As most of you probably saw, he boiled over in the preliminaries, initially refused to go out on the track and was in a muck sweat by the time he approached the start. Related: Paul Nicholls’ Vicente heads to Ayr to defend Scottish Grand National title Continue reading...
Scottish trainer who won at Aintree on Saturday can keep the party going with Hey Listen at Kelso todayWillie Mullins sent runners to Kelso last April in an ultimately fruitless attempt to claim the British jump trainers’ title, but this year’s championship race seems to be over after Paul Nicholls effectively conceded the crown to Nicky Henderson on Sunday and neither trainer has a runner on the card at the track today. Related: Grand National peak viewing figure raises advertising worry for ITV Continue reading...
God’s Own can be backed at 7-2 for another win in the Melling Chase, while Nicky Henderson may have the Topham winnerHmmm, another 3mm has been put on the track at Aintree after racing yesterday and, while that’s not a great deal, I don’t see the case for watering at all. There were four Grade One races there yesterday and all of them took at least 10 seconds longer than standard time, indicating plenty of juice in the ground. There has been sun but temperatures have not been high and are not due to get above 12C before 1pm tomorrow by my forecast. Related: Grand National 2017: a horse-by-horse betting guide Related: Grand National 2017: sweepstake kit Continue reading...
Empire of Dirt can get the better of Cue Card in the Bowl, while it could also pay to take on Buveur D’Air in the Aintree HurdleSo many of us get excited about the start of the Grand National meeting at Aintree. It makes us susceptible to suggestions from bookmakers that today’s card is easy, set to begin with four, yes, four, easy-to-find winners. Stick them in an acca and you won’t need to worry about finding the National winner! Related: Willie Mullins exonerated by Irish officials over vet drugs bust Continue reading...
Custard The Dragon – unlucky not to have a perfect record over track and trip at Southwell – should be suited to the way the 4.20 race is likely to developWe are into that week of the year when Flat racing on turf is supposed to be off and running but no-one seems interested in staging it – an odd situation that is exaggerated when, as today, one of the jumps meetings succumbs to the weather. The start of Newton Abbot’s summer season has been postponed until Easter Saturday, leaving one card over the sticks and another on the all-weather as the only action to keep turnover rolling until Aintree opens its doors on Thursday. Related: Grand National: The Last...