Cheltenham winner L'Homme Presse lined up for Festival
The Cheltenham rain struck on Wednesday of last month's Festival, forcing the withdrawal of Bravemansgame in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase.
It was a controversial issue with trainer Paul Nicholls criticising the watering of the course the previous night, but it worked in the favour of Venetia Williams and L'Homme Presse.
The win was a masterclass of wet weather running from jockey Charlie Deutsch and with rain expected for the Grand National Festival on Thursday we could see another outing for the duo, with soft ground potentially on the cards for Friday.
Connections are looking at a run in the Mildmay Novices' Chase and owner Andy Edwards has confirmed interest, stating: "He wants to run and is ready to run and we would love him to be there."
It's a stacked field with the three favourites being Bravemansgame (11/8), L'Homme Presse (5/4) and Ahoy Senor (9/2) all in the running for what could be one of the highlights of the weekend.
Willie Mullins reveals Aintree lineup
Famed Irish trainer Willie Mullins had a record 10 winners at Cheltenham but has admitted that he may not enjoy similar success at Aintree this weekend.
He has unveiled his Grand National line-up for Saturday's main event of the Festival, with Burrows Saint, Brahma Bull, Class Conti and Agusta Gold all set to run.
He has only ever enjoyed one winner at Aintree, with Hedgehunter in 2005 and will be hoping that one of those horses can break a 17-year run without a victory in Britain's most famous race.
Of those, Burrows Saint at 16/1 looks the main contender to try and bring home the glory and a share of up to £1 million in prize money but Mullins has advised caution.
He said: "The team might not be as strong as other years. You'd rather some of them had better runs prior to the National, but then it’s the National and who knows what’s going to happen?"
De Bromhead hopeful Minella Times is back to his best
Henry De Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore are hoping to achieve what only one other horse has done so far this century and win back to back Grand Nationals with Minella Times.
The feat has only so far been achieved by Tiger Roll (2018, 2019) and the JP McManus owned horse is currently a 20/1 outsider for the crown.
However, De Bromhead is optimistic that the nine year-old who pulled up at Leopardstown in his only outing this year is back to his best ahead of Aintree.
He said: “It has been frustrating with Minella Times so far this season. Obviously, he fell in the John Durkan which was disappointing, and he came back a little bit stiff and sore.
“We then got him right and thought we had him spot on for Leopardstown and again he was a bit disappointing. But we found a little couple of issues and treated him for those, and he seems really good now.
“He worked nicely the other day and Rachael was happy with him so I’m hoping that we’ve got him back on song. He seems in good form, so fingers crossed."
