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2026 Grand National

The fact they had to reach out to Jonathan Burke to take the ride would put me off cocooner.
 
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Playing 4.

I Am Maximus (my strongest bet, for obvious reasons)
Vanillier (more a saver than anything else)
Idas Boy (Outside chance at a big price)
Duffle Coat (Because Istabraq said so, also a bit of a cliff horse for me)
 
3 against the field for me here

Minella Cocooner 40/1 e/w
Stumptown 12/1 win
Idas Boy 150/1 e/w
 
Backed just the one this year.

Fil Dor EW with a paddy power price boost the other day at 125/1. Completely unexposed at the trip, still only 7 and has that bit of class it would seem is needed these days. Lovely mark of 149 to work with. Purchasing him for such a large sum of money kind of hinted the long term target was going to be one of the big pots. A few similarities with Tiger Roll in that he'd performed well in a triumph hurdle, running off a very similar mark albeit a year younger with less exposure over a trip. Gordon understands what's needed here and it's interesting Sam Ewing picks him, assuming he had the choice obviously.

Not the worst punt at the prices, he'll either improve loads going out in trip or be pulled up on the 2nd circuit. :indecisiveness:
 
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Backed INTENSE RAFFLES before the Bobbyjo at 14/1. He went as low as 5/1 at one stage but is almost back out to his antepost price now as confidence dwindles due to the drying ground.
However, he has the same sire as Caldwell Potter, Vanillier and the dam sire of Iroko so I just don't understand why there is such little confidence in him now.
Yes his form to date has been on soft or heavy but that doesn't mean he won't cope with conditions and I'm pretty sure connections would pull him and let him go for a repeat in the Irish National instead of they thought he wouldn't cope with the conditions, they have been very selective in where he runs up to now.
He's thrown in here off 151 and is an excellent jumper and I still give him a huge chance today
 
Don't strongly fancy any of the shorties so have split 2 points between the following on the machine

Broadway boy 110.0
Senior chief 65.0
Grangeclare west 55.0
Beauport 32.0
hyland 28.0

To add to my 20s on kandoo kid

Realise iv backed 4 british horses so none will probably be involved jumping the last hahaha

Any of them wins il have a good sized bet on leau du sud. Why that race is after the national and all these guff ones are before it i have no idea.
 
Main two are Percival Legallois and Meetingofthewaters. Will back Iroko as well as he's been saved for this all season.
 
I don't really care for the National myself but I do enjoy trying to solve it. Feels like the winner will come from the front in the market. If I bet on it, I'd be shortlisting Perceval, Iroko, Raffles and Cocooner
 
FinalFurlong91 said:
Don't strongly fancy any of the shorties so have split 2 points between the following on the machine

Broadway boy 110.0
Senior chief 65.0
Grangeclare west 55.0
Beauport 32.0
hyland 28.0

To add to my 20s on kandoo kid

Realise iv backed 4 british horses so none will probably be involved jumping the last hahaha

Any of them wins il have a good sized bet on leau du sud. Why that race is after the national and all these guff ones are before it i have no idea.
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Hit the post with grangeclare

Uprooted the last surely would've won or gone very very close if not for that
 
Grangeclare west probably would have won there if he didn't get hampered by that faller, annoying.

At least iroko didnt win and ran no race, fuck JP for the campaigning of that horse
 
750k for Willie training the 1-2-3, puts him within 200k of Dan, if he does it again that would be pretty insane.

edit: make that more like 850k
 
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Zachx02 said:
Grangeclare west probably would have won there if he didn't get hampered by that faller, annoying.

At least iroko didnt win and ran no race, fuck JP for the campaigning of that horse
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Iroko was fourth was he not?
 
I Am Maximus ran an absolute blinder off that weight.

At one point it looked as though he was going to drop out, but Paul pulled him out and he got going and thought he was going to go past but just couldn't get past a resilient Nick Rockett.

Great finish.
 
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Had to be Patrick didn't it.

That boy CAN clearly ride a race.

Bobby Joe winners have a decent record in the GN but I imagine nearly all of us put a line through Nick Rocket as soon as Patrick was confirmed.
 
I ruled out all the horses rated over 160, on the basis that I did not see any of them as being 170 grade 1 types, but I was wary as the race seems to favour class nowadays, but in recent years it's usually been something with lower marks getting the job done in front of classier placed horses.

I made profit on the race thanks to Meetingofthewaters being by biggest spend by far each way, and he was probably a touch unlucky not to be a bit closer, after nearly losing Danny at one of the fences 6 or 7 out, and was likely a bit too far back for most of the race after trying to start off on the inside to save ground where every one else seemed to line up.
But he sneaked into the race just before the last only to end up legless by the elbow again.

I also think Danny went for him after jumping the last and would probably have done better to wait, but he likely got excited.

I couldn't have Nick Rockett as being able to win off that mark, irrespective of the jockey. But Patrick had him in the absolute perfect position all the way around and the horse jumped great and just kept finding for him in the run in. I know the owner was wanting to supplement for the Gold cup and I think he'd be a player for next year if they go that way.
He also might only get a 4 or 5lb penalty for winning and would have a realistic chance next year.

Grangeclare West & I Am Maximus I also thought were far too high in the handicap to have much room to improve. And Grangeclare was also unfortunate to make such a mistake near the end.
I am Maximus is some horse because his jumping is not good.
​But I think they all ran great races and ran to their marks and Nick improved a bit further, and the horses that looked to have room for more improvement just didn't run their races on the day.

I think I'll still be looking at horses with more room for improvement next year though as IMO it should still pay over the long term, even if this is a special handicap.
 
Quevega said:
I ruled out all the horses rated over 160, on the basis that I did not see any of them as being 170 grade 1 types, but I was wary as the race seems to favour class nowadays, but in recent years it's usually been something with lower marks getting the job done in front of classier placed horses.

I made profit on the race thanks to Meetingofthewaters being by biggest spend by far each way, and he was probably a touch unlucky not to be a bit closer, after nearly losing Danny at one of the fences 6 or 7 out, and was likely a bit too far back for most of the race after trying to start off on the inside to save ground where every one else seemed to line up.
But he sneaked into the race just before the last only to end up legless by the elbow again.

I also think Danny went for him after jumping the last and would probably have done better to wait, but he likely got excited.

I couldn't have Nick Rockett as being able to win off that mark, irrespective of the jockey. But Patrick had him in the absolute perfect position all the way around and the horse jumped great and just kept finding for him in the run in. I know the owner was wanting to supplement for the Gold cup and I think he'd be a player for next year if they go that way.
He also might only get a 4 or 5lb penalty for winning and would have a realistic chance next year.

Grangeclare West & I Am Maximus I also thought were far too high in the handicap to have much room to improve. And Grangeclare was also unfortunate to make such a mistake near the end.
I am Maximus is some horse because his jumping is not good.
​But I think they all ran great races and ran to their marks and Nick improved a bit further, and the horses that looked to have room for more improvement just didn't run their races on the day.

I think I'll still be looking at horses with more room for improvement next year though as IMO it should still pay over the long term, even if this is a special handicap.
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The problem is a lot of the better handicapped horses simply don't get in the race

I think they need to tighten up the rules a tad so blatant non stayers like fil dor, appreciate it and hitman cant run

Fil dor 1 run over 3 miles in his career. Shouldnt have been allowed to run.

Hitman has a few overs 2m7f but only 1 at 3 miles

Appreciate it tbf has had 3 runs over 3 miles

I'd be happy for them to say you can only run if you've won over 3m+ or you've had 3 races over 3m+

Mullins, elliot and Nicholls having half the field between them kind of makes the race boring too imo

Not much you can do though as they were mainly different owners

Though maybe limiting trainers to 3 runners in races like this would force the big owners to spread their horses around more and be good for national hunt in the long term. Which to me is probably the only way to stop Willie from winning everything.
 
FinalFurlong91 said:
The problem is a lot of the better handicapped horses simply don't get in the race

I think they need to tighten up the rules a tad so blatant non stayers like fil dor, appreciate it and hitman cant run

Fil dor 1 run over 3 miles in his career. Shouldnt have been allowed to run.

Hitman has a few overs 2m7f but only 1 at 3 miles

Appreciate it tbf has had 3 runs over 3 miles

I'd be happy for them to say you can only run if you've won over 3m+ or you've had 3 races over 3m+

Mullins, elliot and Nicholls having half the field between them kind of makes the race boring too imo

Not much you can do though as they were mainly different owners

Though maybe limiting trainers to 3 runners in races like this would force the big owners to spread their horses around more and be good for national hunt in the long term. Which to me is probably the only way to stop Willie from winning everything.
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Yeah - it’s somewhat frustrating seeing the entries dominated but limiting trainers runners is a tricky solution and they could find ways around this if they wanted. Patrick could easily have his own license for example.
But 6 should be enough as a general rule and would likely only impact this race for the better and not damage too much.

Even the win and your in idea is not without issues as you’d likely have to run out the handicap.

The race I think has improved but more years of Willie domination and people will soon get fed up, if not already.

The eligibility rules and records of horses in staying races could be looked at but that’s potentially gonna have other consequences with regards likely lowering of the class of horses running.
 
The one thing about the Mullins domination is that many of his horses would still qualify.

I Am Maximus - defending champion
Grangeclare West - 2nd in Irish GC, Grade 1 Novice winner over 3m
Nick Rockett - Would think the Thystes could be a win and your in race.
Minella Cocooner - Winner over 3m4

The only one really would have been Appreciate it.


I expect higher rated horses to win more and more, the gap between a 160 horse and a 140 horse is more than 20lbs, it gets to the point where no matter the weight a horse simply can't run as fast as they need to.
I could make Michael Johnson carry a 20lb bag on his back and he'd still run the 400 quicker than me.
 
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