Black Grand National Horses

Nick Rockett came out on top in last year’s Grand National, leading home a 1-2-3 for master trainer Willie Mullins.

To make the race even sweeter for Mullins, the winner was ridden by his son, Patrick, as they became only the third father and son combination to win the Grand National.

Mullins reported earlier in the season that the nine-year-old gelding has encountered some issues that looked like it might stop him from returning to Aintree but the situation has improved and Nick Rockett finally made his seasonal reappearance at Down Royal on the 17th of March. The nine-year-old's jumping looked a little rusty at Down Royal and he was eventually beaten seven lengths into third by a possible Grand National adversary in Gerri Colombe. 

Despite winning the Grand National Nick Rockett had to run in the Down Royal race to qualify to run at Aintree as a rule change insists that all Grand National runners must have raced at least once that season. Some bookmakers were not too impressed with Nick Rockett's return to the track and generally increased his price in the ante-post market. 

With a gap of just over three weeks to Aintree from his reappearance, Nick Rockett appears to face an uphill struggle to retain his Grand National crown.

Three Card Brag has generally been in great form this season with the highlights being an excellent win in an ultra-competitive 52k handicap at Cheltenham in October as well as finishing runner-up in the Kerry National and Coral Gold Cup.

The outlier in his performances this season was his effort last time out in the Bobbyjo at Fairyhouse where he was sent off the 3/1 favourite but finished a disappointing seventh, fifty-nine lengths behind winner Grangeclare West. Perhaps the heavy ground that day was not to his liking but it is a worry going into a big race like the Grand National off the back of a poor last-time effort.

The nine-year-old gelding ran in the Grand National last year and showed up really well for a long way, attacking the fences with apparent relish, but eventually weakening from three out to finish forty-five lengths behind Nick Rockett. At first glance it appeared that perhaps Three Card Brag did not stay the four-miles plus and trainer Gordon Elliott may feel the same as it is interesting that the horse has also been given an entry in the 2m 5f Topham Chase over the National fences.

Doubts about stamina and how he has come out of his last disappointing run might be enough to temper enthusiasm for most punters looking for a Grand National bet.

Final Orders has been a wonderful servant to his connections winning on the flat, over hurdles, over conventional fences and now becoming a top cross-country horse. 

The crowning glory in his career came on his latest run when jumping superbly to win the Glenfarclas Cross Country at the Cheltenham Festival and taking his career winnings to well over 200k. Next up will be the Aintree Grand National and given that the Cheltenham Cross Country has previously provided some many horses to go on and run well at Aintree, Final Orders is likely to be well supported. His supporters will be aware that the ten-year-old gelding needs genuinely good ground to be at his best so his chances seem to depend on a dry run-up to the race. The other potential issue is that he is quite a small horse and whilst the Grand National fences are not the test they used to be, they can still provide a stern test. This is underlined in that Final Orders has run twenty-eight times over fences and has only fallen once and that was in the Topham Chase over the Grand National fences. The ground was soft that day so that may have been a contributory factor but it is a concern to be aware of if you are considering backing this horse for the Grand National.