Hands Nass, he said the odds had been the lowest for a national winner at 8/1 but Miinnehomer returned at 16s. Battleship stood 15 hands 1 inch Tiger Roll stood 15 hands 2 inch Miinnehomer stood ????? I can't find the answer through google so i'm stuffed!
Cheers Nass, that sounds a plan to be fair, i am struggling on this. Btw the lowest priced winner returned at 11/4 and was Poethlyn...That was easy to find out.
Thanks for putting that up jumpsfan. It's one I 'll stay clear of as just not sure about him. I like le breuil although likely he will not make the cut..
I’m in the Pipe enclosure on the Thursday of the festival. Ol man Pipe always comes round and has a chat to everyone. I’ll ask him if I remember.
In his blog today Tom Lacey reckons Kimberlite Candy has a nice racing weight at 10st 4lbs. His rating is up 10lb from his Warwick win. He also ripped the O'Learys a collective new arsehole after their toys out the pram bleating with Tiger Roll's allotted weight. I like Kimberlite Candy but only if it's soft or worse. One that I shall be keeping an eye out for is Double Shuffle at a whopping 100/1 currently. Ran in this race in 2017 as a 7 year old. Was ultimately pulled up but travelled and jumped nicely for a long way. Highly tried, has that bit of class and a feather weight.
Best handicapped horse in the Grand National? Gordon Elliott's Death Duty- a top novice hurdler and, apart from falling against Footpad, unbeaten over fences. Comfortably beat Rathvinden at levels and slaughtered Tout est Permis, giving him weight. A 159 chaser who gets in off 10st 5lbs. He hadn't run for two years but Elliott gave him a run over hurdles recently behind Benie Des Dieux. A very dark horse at 66/1 ante post.
First one I done when the weights came out so it's run on Saturday in Gowran will be interesting. Entered in Ryanair & Gold cup as well so hard to know if it will be aimed here. A potentially seriously well handicapped horse
15.2 Reebs, on the back of this it has occurred that not just the weight in this handicap but also the size of the horse is quite prevalent also. The three named so far are all 15.1 or 15.2 Miinnehoma no idea but would be interesting to see a trend to back it up.
Then you have Party Politics at 18.2 (that's a foot higher) who virtually stepped over the fences to win. When Amanda was 15 she was jumping 148cm ponies; that's about 15 hands. These little ones can jump though. When she was 13 she came equal first in a 6 bar challenge where the last jump was 1.5m ( rules wouldn't allow them to jump off any higher). Her little pony at the time was 137cms and could have walked under the jump . We still have that little pony (34yo now)
If you watch the 1992 National Party politics lands a little out of cynic,which leads to the thought about smaller horses being more balanced over the bigger obstacles. Hope that little pony you have sees another 34yrs
Unless someone can find record of any subsequent winner of the National being 15 hands or less, then Battleship was the smallest winner. Ironically, I found this out in a book about US Racing, as Battleship (ch. c. Man O’War ex. Quarantaine) was a Kentucky-born colt that came from a good family (half-sister Quoi won the Prix de Diane). He won nearly half his races at an ordinary level but when he became lame for a second time as a four year old, he was sold to Marion du Pont Scott. After the horse’s lameness had been cured, he was sent steeplechasing. Battleship won the 1934 American Grand National. He was shipped to Britain in 1936 and won the 1938 Grand National when trained in Lambourn by Reggie Hobbs. Here is something some jumps follower may know: has any other entire won the Grand National? After winning the National, Battleship was shipped home and retired to stud. He had even performed stallion duties during his US racing career before crossing The Pond. I did find an article about Miinnehoma, the 1994 winner, but it did not mention his lack of stature, so if a 2012 book is claiming Battleship as the smallest winner I expect that record still exists as I do not recall any winner since being noted as small. In this year’s field, my mate has got Vintage Clouds (40/1) and Kimberlite Candy (25/1) ante post but his Mister Malarky (100/1) punt is staying with Bet365. If either of them win then the beer is on him. If I have a bet at all it won’t be until the day of the race when the going is known and the 103 entries have been whittled down to the maximum 40. The eventual winner could be No. 77 at the moment (not a tip – just a number at random).
That is conclusive enough for me. Now if you could find the time to whittle down the field by stature I'd be much obliged
Tiger Roll moved a step closer to racing immortality on Friday when Gigginstown racing manager Eddie O'Leary gave the green light for the legendary ten-year-old to contest the Randox Health Grand National. The dual Grand National winner will return to Aintree provided all goes to plan in his intended prep races at Navan on Sunday and at the Cheltenham Festival. Red Rum is the only horse in history to have won three Grand Nationals but three in a row has never been done and O'Leary revealed to the Racing Post on Friday lunchtime that Tiger Roll will try to attempt the feat. He said: "We all had a sit down on Thursday night to discuss everything and we have decided that Tiger Roll will definitely run in the Grand National provided everything goes okay on his return to action at Navan on Sunday, and in the cross country at Cheltenham next month." Tiger Roll is generally 5-1 favourite for the Grand National, although he is 6-1 with Boylesports, William Hill and Unibet, and is set to reappear in the Ladbrokes Boyne Hurdle at Navan on Sunday under Keith Donoghue. Anyone trust him!
Tiger Roll undoubtedly has a great chance at Aintree, despite the extra weight. If you replay the last two Nationals, you’ll notice that he markedly slowed down from the elbow once Davy Russell used his whip- allowing both Pleasant Company and Magic Of Light to close the gap. He was hacking up all the way up to that point. So,Davy, leave that whip alone. By the way, 7/4 for the Cheltenham Cross Country Chase is unbelievable. He’ll need to be injured or fall to lose that!
He might find my fancy a bit more difficult than last year's competition, although I couldn't believe how easily he won that; incredible performance
Even more amazing is that the likes of Battleship and Jay Trump were jumping bigger fences with steeper drops back then I don't see this as a relevant stat towards finding the winner these days, but interesting nonetheless
My Four EW's against the field. Elegant Escape, ( 50/1 with Hills and BetFred ), NAP. Poker Party, ( 50/1 Generally ) Ballyoptic, ( 28/1 Skybet. and 25/1 Generally ) One For Arthur, ( 33/1 Generally )