All the leading contenders, including William Hill's 13-2 favourite Corach Rambler, remain on course for the 2023 Randox Grand National at Aintree Racecourse this Saturday after 50 entries were left in at the five-day declaration stage. While Grand National-winning trainer Donald McCain is looking forward to returning to the big stage at Aintree with Minella Trump.
There were seven horses taken out of the Aintree showpiece today with the Ted Walsh-trained Any Second Now – who has been third and second in the last two Grand Nationals – heading the handicap on 11st12lb. He is a best-priced 16-1 with William Hill. The Lucinda Russell-trained Corach Rambler has been the market leader since winning the Ultima Handicap Chase for a second successive year at last month's Cheltenham Festival. Last year's Grand National winner, the Emmet Mullins-trained Noble Yeats, was a staying-on fourth behind Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup as he warmed up for another crack at the Aintree showpiece. He is currently a best-priced 8-1 with most bookmakers for his bid to become the 10th dual winner of the race.
Another leading fancy still on course to line-up is last year's third Delta Work, who landed a second successive victory in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase and is trained by triple Grand National winner Gordon Elliott at Cheltenham. He is a best-priced 10-1 with Skybet and bet365 for the Grand National and heads 12 entries for the County Meath handler for which he is likely to have six in the final field. As well at Delta Work – Galvin, Fury Road, Coko Beach, Escaria Ten and Dunboyne are likely to bid to provide trainer Elliott with a record-equalling fourth success in the Aintree showpiece.
On the 50th anniversary of Red Rum's first triumph at Aintree, McCain is out to land a second Grand National victory as he will have a runner for the first time since 2015. His father Ginger McCain won a joint record four successes in the Aintree showpiece with the legendary Red Rum's hat-trick in the 1970s and Amberleigh House's victory in 2004 – with his son assisting him with that final success. Merseyside-born McCain junior took over as trainer at Bankhouse Stables in Cheshire two years later and also landed his own Grand National victory with Ballabriggs in 2011. But in recent years, the 52-year-old has not had a Grand National runner with Across The Bay, who was pulled up in 2015, his last to line-up at Aintree.
Minella Trump, who is owned by McCain's biggest supporter Tim Leslie, has won eight of his nine chase starts and made his first appearance in over 10 months when down the field behind stable-mate Jungle Jack over hurdles at Bangor last month. The nine-year-old is a general 66-1 chance and will provide owner Leslie with a first Grand National runner.
McCain said: "He's in good nick and it was good to get the run into him the other day (at Bangor). It wasn't ideal to run over timber but there was nowhere else to go unless you want to get involved at Cheltenham. I'd sooner he'd have run in a chase, but there wasn't one so we went over hurdles. He did what we wanted him to do in that he's had a good blow and he's come back in good shape. We're all happy. He'd done a lot of racing and won a lot of races, so we just gave him a good break. It's not been that smooth in that we'd have liked to have got a run in when it was appropriate, but the ground was very heavy and there was nowhere to go, so we've had to do things slightly different – but it's never smooth.
"He's a great little horse and I don't know if he's going under the radar a bit, as he knows how to win. He's probably not the most impressive when he's doing it, but that's probably the reason why he keeps managing to win, because he's never doing it by too far. We've got a good racing weight in a big field handicap, so it's a positive for sure.
"He's beaten some smart horses, including the Grand National favourite Corach Rambler. He's had a much smoother journey to Aintree and that sort of stuff and looks a thorough stayer and so on, but Minella Trump is in good nick and we're looking forward to getting him there."
He added: "We're not there yet of course, but it would be very nice to have our first runner for a few years. It will be very special to have it for Tim Leslie, too, as it's been an ambition of his since I started training to have a runner in the race. To get there and have a runner for him would be fantastic as he's been a wonderful supporter."
READ MORE: Grand National 2023: dates, tickets and how to watch on TV
The horses taken out of the National at the latest declaration stage included Grand National-winning trainer Venetia Williams' duo Quick Wave and Royale Pagaille. The former won the Betfred Grand National Trial at Haydock Park in February but will not now line-up back on Merseyside this weekend. Royale Pagaille instead in Easter Monday's BoyleSports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse, although he fell. Williams still has Cloudy Glen entered.
The Martin Keighley-trained Back On The Lash – who is part-owned by former footballer and manager Harry Redknapp – is now guaranteed a run at 39th on the list.
There are still 34 Irish-trained horses out the 50 that remain in the Grand National with 28 of those already in the top 40 and guaranteed a run. With the latest defections, Elliott's Defi Bleu is now the 40th horse – although he was a gallant third in today's Irish National, so is a highly unlikely runner at Aintree. Elliott also has the next three horses – Gevrey, Punitive and Milan Native – on the list. But similarly all three ran in the Irish National with Gevrey finishing second to winner I Am Maximus. If they are all, as seems likely, taken out of the race following their exertions today the current 44th horse on the list, the Paul Gilligan-trained Born By The Sea would take the final and 40th place in the race.
The final 40 runners will declared 48 hours before the big race on Thursday.
Latest odds from William Hill, official betting partner of the Randox Grand National: 13-2 Corach Rambler, 8-1 Noble Yeats, Delta Work, 14-1 Gaillard du Mesnil, Mr Incredible, 18-1 Any Second Now, Longhouse Poet, Le Milos, 20-1 Galvin, Vanillier, Our Power, 22-1 Ain't That A Shame, 25-1 Capodanno, Coko Beach, The Big Dog, 33-1 Carefully Selected, Lifetime Ambition, The Big Breakaway, 40-1 Dunboyne, 50-1 Fury Road, Gabbys Cross, Mister Coffey, Roi Mage, Velvet Elvis, 66-1 Back On The Lash, Darasso, Diol Ker, Escaria Ten, Eva's Oskar, Enjoy d'Allen, Fortescue, Hill Sixteen, Minella Trump, 80-1 Sam Brown, 100-1 A Wave of The Sea, Born By The Sea, Cape Gentleman, Captain Cattistock, Cloudy Glen, Darrens Hope, Defi Bleu, Fakiera, Fantastikas, Francky du Berlais. Gevrey, Milan Native, Mortal, Punitive, Recite A Prayer, Secret Reprieve. All quoted. Non-runner, no bet. For latest odds from William Hill visit https://rb.gy/izcpzu
The current 50 Grand National 2023 entries at Aintree
List of entries for the Randox Grand National Handicap Chase (Class 1), (4m2f74y) at Aintree Racecourse on Saturday, April 15 2023 (5.15pm).
No, Name, Age, Weight, Rating, Owner, Trainer
1 Any Second Now (IRE) 11-11-12 167 Mr JP McManus Ted Walsh IRE
2 Noble Yeats (IRE) 8-11-11 166 Mr Robert Waley-Cohen Emmet Mullins IRE
3 Galvin (IRE) 9-11-11 166 Mr RA Bartlett Gordon Elliott IRE
4 Fury Road (IRE) 9-11-6 161 Gigginstown House Stud Gordon Elliott IRE
5 The Big Dog (IRE) 10-11-5 160 Damien J Kelly/Colin Kelly Peter Fahey IRE
6 Capodanno (FR) 7-11-5 160 Mr JP McManus Willie Mullins IRE
7 Delta Work (FR) 10-11-4 159 Gigginstown House Stud Gordon Elliott IRE
8 Sam Brown (GB) 11-11-4 159 Mr TC Frost Anthony Honeyball
9 Lifetime Ambition (IRE) 8-11-3 158 Linda Mulcahy/Mary Wolridge Jessica Harrington IRE
10 Carefully Selected (IRE) 11-11-1 156 Miss MA Masterson Willie Mullins IRE
11 Coko Beach (FR) 8-11-0 155 Gigginstown House Stud Gordon Elliott IRE
12 Longhouse Poet (IRE) 9-11-0 155 Sean & Bernardine Mulryan Martin Brassil IRE
13 Gaillard du Mesnil (FR) 7-11-0 155 Mrs J Donnelly Willie Mullins IRE
14 Darasso (FR) 10-10-13 154 Mr JP McManus Joseph O'Brien IRE
15 Le Milos (GB) 8-10-11 152 The Jolly Good Partnership Dan Skelton
16 Escaria Ten (FR) 9-10-10 151 McNeill Family Gordon Elliott IRE
17 The Big Breakaway (IRE) 8-10-10 151 Eric Jones, Geoff Nicholas, John Romans Joe Tizzard
18 Cape Gentleman (IRE) 7-10-8 149 Mr Pierre Manigault John Hanlon IRE
19 Roi Mage (FR) 11-10-8 149 Pryde/Van Der Hoeven/McGladery/Beaumont Patrick Griffin IRE
20 Diol Ker (FR) 9-10-8 149 Gigginstown House Stud Noel Meade IRE
21 A Wave of The Sea (IRE) 7-10-6 147 Mr JP McManus Joseph O'Brien IRE
22 Minella Trump (IRE) 9-10-6 147 Mr TG Leslie Donald McCain
23 Vanillier (FR) 8-10-6 147 Mrs HM Keaveney Gavin Cromwell IRE
24 Velvet Elvis (IRE) 7-10-6 147 Mr D Kierans Tom Gibney IRE
25 Ain't That A Shame (IRE) 9-10-5 146 Robcour Henry de Bromhead IRE
26 Corach Rambler (IRE) 9-10-5 146 The Ramblers Lucinda Russell
27 Enjoy d'Allen (FR) 9-10-5 146 Mr JP McManus Ciaran Murphy IRE
28 Mr Incredible (IRE) 7-10-4 145 Mr P Byrne Willie Mullins IRE
29 Mister Coffey (FR) 8-10-4 145 Lady Bamford & Alice Bamford Nicky Henderson
30 Cloudy Glen (IRE) 10-10-4 145 Exors of the late Mr Trevor Hemmings Venetia Williams
31 Hill Sixteen (GB) 10-10-2 143 J Fyffe & S Townshend Sandy Thomson
32 Gabbys Cross (IRE) 8-10-2 143 Mr RS Brookhouse Henry de Bromhead IRE
33 Recite A Prayer (IRE) 8-10-1 142 The Turner Family Willie Mullins IRE
34 Eva's Oskar (IRE) 9-10-1 142 Sally & Richard Prince Tim Vaughan
35 Our Power (IRE) 8-10-0 141 Walters Plant Hire & Potter Group Sam Thomas
36 Dunboyne (IRE) 8-10-0 141 SP O'Connor Gordon Elliott IRE
37 Francky du Berlais (FR) 10-10-0 141 Mr Roddy Owen Peter Bowen
38 Fortescue (GB) 9-9-13 140 Mrs L Nixon Henry Daly
39 Back On The Lash (GB) 9-9-13 140 Maughan, Redknapp, Ryan, Salters Martin Keighley
40 Defi Bleu (FR) 10-9-12 139 Gigginstown House Stud Gordon Elliott IRE
41 Gevrey (FR) 7-9-10 137 Denis Gallagher Racing Gordon Elliott IRE
42 Milan Native (IRE) 10-9-10 137 Gigginstown House Stud Gordon Elliott IRE
43 Punitive (IRE) 9-9-10 137 Pioneer Racing Gordon Elliott IRE
44 Born By The Sea (IRE) 9-9-10 137 Natalie Gilligan Paul Gilligan IRE
45 Fakiera (FR) 8-9-8 135 Mr T O'Driscoll Gordon Elliott IRE
46 Darrens Hope (IRE) 9-9-8 135 Robert Murphy Robert Murphy IRE
47 Mortal (IRE) 11-9-8 135 Mr A Dunlop Gordon Elliott IRE
48 Captain Cattistock (GB) 10-9-5 132 Mr Nic Brereton Fergal O'Brien
49 Secret Reprieve (IRE) 9-9-5 132 Mr & Mrs William Rucker Evan William
50 Fantastikas (FR) 8-9-5 132 Imperial Racing Partnership 2016 Nigel Twiston-Davies
50 entries (34 Irish-trained)
The following horses have been scratched: Royale Pagaille, Envoi Allen, The Shunter, Gin On Lime, Battleoverdoyen, Quick Wave, Captain Kangaroo
