The countdown begins now. Aintree 2012 is just around the corner. Three days of top class horse racing culminating on Saturday with the 2012 renewal of the Grand National, the world’s greatest steeplechase.
Winners of this race have gone down in horse racing folklore. Names such as West Tip, Corbiere, Golden Miller, Party Politics going down as heroes. Others have transcended the sport and entered the nation’s consciousness. Red Rum, Aldaniti rising above the Sport of Kings to become kings themselves. The race itself has become almost synonymous with the unexpected happening. ESB winning after Devon Loch belly-flopped when approaching the winning line, Foinavon avoiding a huge pile up on the second circuit to win unexpectedly in 1967, Red Rum overcoming a huge deficit to pip the gallant Crisp on the line in 1973. Red Marauder wading through the mud to win when one of only two finishers (another two horses finished that year but both had been remounted). Then there was the void National of 1993 after two false starts and the Monday National of 1997 after a bomb scare on the Saturday had postponed the race.
At time of writing 48 horses have been declared for the big race on Saturday with a maximum of 40 being allowed to go to post. This Thursday the final list of 40 horses (if that number are still entered) will be published with 4 reserve horses waiting until Friday evening to be allowed to enter the race should one of the first forty withdraw.
This will be the first Grand National to be raced since the amendments were made to the fourth fence and Beecher’s Brook after fatalities at each fence last year. Hopefully this will be the last time changes are made to the Grand National. This race is a unique spectacle and is supposed to be the ultimate challenge for horse and rider. I am firmly of the belief that if the race is altered any further, the Grand National will be in serious danger of becoming just another long distance steeple chase.
Whether or not the animal rights fanatics or indeed the once a year punters who always seem to shout the loudest in calling for changes like it or not but one of the main draws of the Grand National is the spectacular nature of the race. Get rid of that and you destroy the very essence of the Grand National.
I am not calling for the return to how the race was in the 1960’s and 1970’s when jumping Beecher’s Brook really was like jumping off the edge of a cliff but I hope Donald McCain, son of legendary trainer Ginger McCain and the trainer of last year’s winner Ballabriggs, is right when he says that he hopes we can draw a line in the sand now and ask people to leave the Grand National how it is. The vast majority of the changes have made the race better, that cannot be ignored, the rubbish horses can no longer enter the race so it is much more of a genuine contest rather than a lottery of a race contested between Aintree specialists and no-hopers bought by owners dreaming of glory.
So, what if this year’s race? Firstly please do not ask me for tips. Well you can but expect a list of about ten contenders until Saturday when I finally make my decision, plus I have not backed a winner of the race since Monty’s Pass. At time of writing Gold Cup hero Synchronised is favourite at 8/1 with most firms. A P McCoy is booked to ride this horse so expect those odds to get shorter. Synchronised has a genuine chance, he has won a Midlands National and a Welsh National so will stay all day long but bear in mind history is against him. Only one horse has won the gold Cup-Grand National double in the same year and that was Golden Miller in the 1930’s when the Gold Cup was just seen as a warm up race for the National and not the pinnacle that it is today.
Other chances are Ballabriggs, West End Rocker, Seabass, Shakalakaboomboom, Junior, On His Own with perennial challengers Mon Mome, Neptune Collonges and Vic Venturi all hoping to add their names to the roll of honour.
Whatever happens on Saturday we are sure to witness yet another great race. Good luck to you all no matter who you may back and let us all hope that all horses and riders have a safe journey around the famous old course.
