The Grand National is an event that attracts casual horse racing fans and even people who never watch the sport at all will be placing bets today.
Those who do not follow racing throughout the year may be surprised to see the name of a very famous horse missing from the runners' list at Aintree today, Tiger Roll.
The 2018 and 2019 winner, owned by Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, ran his last race at Cheltenham this year, before retiring. It means Tiger Roll will not get a chance to emulate Red Rum as a three-time Grand National winner.
Read more: Trippier's Sky Sports interview, full transcript
There was hope Tiger Roll would run in the 2022 Grand National, but an argument over the horse's handicap rating led to Mr O'Leary deciding not to enter Tiger Roll into the National. He ran his last race at the Cheltenham Festival last month, missing out on a win in the Cross Country Chase to his stablemate, Delta Work
Why isn't Tiger Roll running in the 2022 Grand National?
After winning the 2018 and 2019 Grand Nationals, Tiger Roll was denied the chance for a hat-trick of wins when the race was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, Tiger Roll's owners pulled the horse out due to an "unfair weight" of 11st 9lb.
And Tiger Roll won't be making an appearance at the 2022 Grand National, having retired last month.
There was hope the thoroughbred would get the chance to make it three Grand National wins this year, but a handicap row led to Mr O'Leary taking Tiger Roll out of the running.
The British Horseracing Authority assigned Tiger Roll a 161 handicap rating, which would mean the horse would have to carry between 11st 8ln and 11st 9lb of weight to run the race. Handicaps are based on past performance. Race organisers allocate them to try and make races fairer.
Mr O'Leary branded Tiger Roll's rating as "absurd".
Speaking in February, Tiger Roll's owner said: “Tiger Roll is now 12 years old. He is clearly not as good as he was at eight or nine, and yet the UK handicapper now rates him 2lbs higher than his 159 rating in April 2019, when he won both the Boyne Hurdle and the Aintree Grand National.
“This rating is absurd, and unfair on a 12 year old chaser. It is a pity that the handicapper won’t give Tiger Roll either a fair rating, or a fair weight in the Aintree Grand National, where he could at least try to emulate Red Rum’s three Grand National wins.
"However, the handicapper sets the weights, and even if he is manifestly wrong in the case of Tiger Roll, there is nothing we can do about it other than remove him from the race, since we don’t believe it is fair or safe to ask him to carry close to top weight at the age of 12.
“Since the top two horses in the handicap (Galvin and Conflated) won’t run in Aintree this year, Tiger Roll will have to carry either 11.8, or 11. 9 at the age of 12, which is three years after he carried 11.5 at the age of nine to win the great race in April 2019.
“Since we are responsible for the welfare of Tiger Roll, we must protect him from the idiotic opinion of this handicapper. We, therefore, regret to announce that he will not run in this year’s Aintree Grand National."
Follow the latest Grand National 2022 news over on Liverpool Echo's live blog
