The big news is Ruby Walsh has chosen to ride the Paul Nicholls-trained My Will over the Ted Walsh-trained Southern Vic. And yes, Ted Walsh is also known as Ruby’s dad and the father-son duo won the GN in 2000 with Papillon.
Here’s the Times guide to the entries.
War of Attrition is out of the GN.
I was surprised he’d stirred up so much action from the punters – this horse has rarely been sound since he won the Gold Cup way back in the pre-Kauto Star/Denman era, whenever that was.
Good call from his trainer, Mouse Morris, for not letting him run if he wasn’t 100%.
Yes but Paul Nichols has a dreadful record in this race. Out of 40 runners he has had in 17 yrs only eight finished and only one of those in the frame. Maybe he just has another Tony McCoy jinx???
Oh the dread … SportingLife - Bookmakers fear too many like the name “Will”
William Hill estimate that over half of the punters betting on the National base their selections on names, and as over 500,000 people in the UK hold the first name ‘William’ and nearly 300,000 have the surname ‘Williams’, bookmakers are bracing themselves for a monster payout.
William Hill spokeswoman Kate Miller said: "It could be carnage for the bookies if My Will prevails on Saturday and we estimate the industry could be rocked with a payout in excess of £100million.
“Everyone knows someone with the name ‘Will’ and it could be our worst Grand National result for the last decade.”
The irony cannot be lost on “William Hill Bookmakers”
Thankfully an entry of “Our Pal John Smith” hasn’t occured or else it would be chaos!
Denman was taken away in a horse ambulance after a fall at the last while leading in big Chase today at Aintree.
Nasty cut to his leg.
Same race - Exotic Dancer suffered a heart attack after finishing 2nd and has been euthanized. (see the racing post)
Exotic Wood died of an apparent heart attack.
Just some little info. For us, this week has been very warm and dry. Last week we had snow showers. Ground at Aintree is probably a bit hard even though they are watering. Most of these horses running at Aintree are still the winter horses who appreciate cut in the ground.
Just for anyone making wagers, keep these things in mind!
Terri
Will the GN be televised in the US?
Sad about Exotic Dancer, he was a tough old campaigner. Never reached the heights of Denman and Kauto, but was usually there or there abouts…
From the Racing Post.
EXOTIC DANCER collapsed and died in his stable box after finishing second in the Totesport Bowl at Aintree on Thursday.
Jonjo O’Neill’s stable star won the race in 2007 and has remained among the high-rank of staying chasers since winning the Paddy Power Gold Cup in 2006.
Speaking on Racing UK, O’Neill said: "Hannah, who looks after him, was leading him round and she wasn’t happy with him. He was a bit wobbly and thevet said take him to his box and he passed away.
“It’s a sickener for everyone but that’s why we’ve got to enjoy the good days.”
Barry Simpson, racing manager to owner Sir Robert Ogden, added: "Very much so [a shame]. Not just for close connections but for all the staff that looked after him.
"We had some wonderful days but it’s very sad to end like this. We were disappointed with his jumping today but there was clearly an underlying reason.
“It is a very, very sad end to a very, very good career for the horse.”
Exotic Dancer landed his first and only Grade 1 success in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown in December.
The nine-year-old was also placed in two Gold Cups at Cheltenham as well as winning both the Paddy Power Gold Cup and Boylesports.com Gold Cup at the same course.
He won eight of his 29 starts and was placed in a further 16 including a second in Thursday’s Totesport Bowl, and scooped £815, 163 in win and place prize money.
Btw, Denman is dong fine. Looks like he’ll get an early start on the summer holidays most chasers get.
Jockey Sam Thomas was adamant he would have won, but Nicholls was just glad he had returned to the stables safely.
Nicholls, speaking two hours after the race, said: "Denman is fine apart from a cut to his elbow and is on his way home.
[B]"It was quite a deep cut and he got a good smack on his elbow, but we X-rayed it and it was fine.
"He’ll have a good summer out at grass and then come back next autumn for a proper campaign.
[/B]
“We knew this track wouldn’t suit him but he was in the right place at the right time, and would have galloped right to the line.”
Thomas added: “He would have won - he just stepped at the fence and I don’t know why.”
Declared runners today for Saturday.
http://www.racingbetter.co.uk/aintree/grand_national_entries.html
[QUOTE=Alex2;3993150]
Will the GN be televised in the US?[/QUOTE]
http://www.aintree.co.uk/pages/tv-syndication/
BBC radio 5 live will broadcast a live commentary so not sure if it will be simultanious on BBC World Service.
Additional list of declared runners to the one I posted earlier - this one has a bit more information.
http://www.aintree.co.uk/news/grand-national-final-declarations/
RIP Exotic Dancer. Very sad. Hoping Nacarat does well today and Hear The Echo and State Of Play are my picks for the GN.
Live streaming for the Grand National - don’t know if you will be able to access this in the US but it will tell you as you try to register.
http://www.bet365.com/extra/?ContentPath=LiveStreaming%2cLive%2BHorse%2BRacing
Mel in Blue was fataly injured yesterday at Beechers in the Foxhunters, broken neck. In the same race there was a horrible classic high speed rotational fall at the 3rd The Chair, fortunately the horse got up uninjured after being slammed by following runners.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/racing/aintree-makes-sombre-start-1660984.html
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/Death-of-the-brave-Exotic.5138704.jp
here’s a link that is showing a live stream from aintree for all three days. I’m watching it now, hopefully it will still work tomorrow.
Maybe it’s just me, but this ground seems very hard. I’ve seen some not so nice fall today and a mare breaking down badly in a bumper. There’s a bit of rain for tonight, but not much. I really hope it’s a bit softer for tomorrow.
Terri
For American racing fans, the low weight in the National is the 12yo Zabenz, carrying 10-5 (145lbs). He won the Turf Writers G1 at Saratoga… seven years ago!
Anyone remember him?
Not often you see a son of Zabeel running in the National.
Jeez, that was some delay at the start of the big Novice Chase. Song of Songs threw a shoe and had to be be reset. Then Doctor David completely planted as they were coming to the tape and no amount of urging, kicking and pulling would make him move, so the starter withdrew him, much to the disgust of the jock.
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