Heavy rain on Friday on ground that had been watered overnight resulted in the official going on the Grand National course changing to soft – from good-to-soft – and while a better day is in prospect on Saturday, the big race still promises to be more of a test than seemed likely when the field was finalised on Thursday.
This is, of course, the winter game, and soft ground will not come as a shock to the majority of the 40 runners. But it does raise an additional question mark about those whose ability to produce their best form – or even improve on it - at Saturday’s marathon trip was already in doubt.
