It’s Grand National week which means attention has turned to the world’s most famous jumps race.
Aintree is the venue for the most testing National Hunt challenge of them all - with an eye-watering £1,000,000 in prize money on offer for the race.
Up to 40 runners will go to post at 5:15pm on Saturday in front of a TV audience of millions as all eyes turn to the Merseyside racecourse for one of the biggest events in the British sporting calendar.
READ MORE: Top 10 runners and riders tipped for Aintree glory
Recent Cheltenham Festival winner Corach Rambler looks set to go off as favourite for trainer Lucinda Russell, while Noble Yeats and Delta Work also feature high up in the betting.
Who won the Grand National in 2022?
Noble Yeats is aiming to become just the 10th horse in history to win the Grand National more than once, having come in as a shock 50/1 winner last year. Amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen was on board Noble Yeats in what was his last ever race before retiring.
Wahley-Cohen became the first amateur jockey to succeed since Marcus Armytage in 1990 when partnering Noble Yeats, who is owned by the jockey’s father Robert and trained by Emmet Mullins. The seven-year-old is rated as having more than a decent chance of winning the race again, having proved his ability to stay over the 4 miles, 2 ½ furlongs distance in 2022.
On how Noble Yeats’ victory has changed his life, Mullins said: “I try my best not to let winning the Grand National change my life, but you’d have to ask my friends and family about that.
“My mentality is you see it, you do it and you move on and look forward. I suppose that’s part of the reason why winning the National hasn’t hit home, you’re looking for next year’s National winner and trying to buy horses for the year after’s National.
“I’m trying to see that five-year project the whole time. I suppose I did overshoot the first five-year plan a little bit!”
The horse finished fourth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last month under new jockey Sean Bowen and Mullins - who won the National with his first ever runner in the race last year - added: “He seems to have come out of the Gold Cup well.
“He’s getting a bit wiser every time and seems to look after himself a bit. He needs a bit more coaxing and Sean was under pressure and hard at it in the Gold Cup. When he got a bit of daylight, he flew home.
“He was last jumping the first fence in the Grand National last year and wasn’t in contention for the first two miles which all worked out in his favour. There is no rule of thumb – it’s about getting the horse happy and confident with some space and getting the gaps.
“It will probably have to be taking the brave man’s route again to get that space but he negotiated it last year and fingers crossed can do it again. I will tell Sean to keep going back at look at Sam’s ride last year!”
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