Sunday, March 30, 2008

Grand National countdown

The news today that both Kauto Star and Master Minded will run at Aintree later this week adds spice to a meeting which culminates in the Grand National on Saturday. At this early stage, I thought I'd point out the horses I'll consider more closely in the run up to the race...

Cloudy Lane - 6/1 favourite thrown in at the weights but doesn't look guaranteed to stay.

Simon - fell at Valentine's on the second circuit last time when in with a shout.

Comply Or Die - won the Eider Chase a month ago, thereby dispelling stamina doubts.

Slim Pickings - third last year.

Bewleys Berry - going well when fell at Becher's on the second circuit last year.

McKelvey - injured himself on the run-in when finishing second to Silver Birch. Recovery has been a slow job and two recent hurdle runs suggest he has it to do.

Philson Run - fourth at 100/1 last time; a little long in the tooth now but trained specifically for this.

Comply Or Die aside, the Pipe stable has other interesting entries including Vodka Bleu (put up recently by David Pipe as value at 50/1), Over The Creek (not guaranteed to run but was third in the Welsh National and has beaten Simon at Cheltenham) and the much improved Madison Du Berlais who could ideally do with less weight.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Think my money is on Slim pickings, he ran well last year and think he has the stamina to pull it off. current odds 11-1