Aries Grand National Horses

Delta Work is a dual Cheltenham Festival Cross Country chase winner and also finished third in the Grand National two years ago. Gordon Elliott tried this gelding again at Aintree last year but he unseated his rider at the twenty-first fence. Delta Work missed out on a chance to record a hat-trick of Cheltenham Cross Country Festival wins when that race was cancelled this year due to the state of the ground.This means that the gelding comes to Aintree without the benefit of a recent run and it could be that his best chance of an Aintree victory has passed given he is now eleven years old.  He is rated three pounds lower then when third two years ago so does have a chance on the handicap but eight Grand Nationals have now passed since the last winner aged in double figures (Pineau De Re in 2014) and the National appears to be moving towards suiting younger, more well-handicapped types. Delta Work has been declared to run with first-time blinkers.

A relatively cheap (£17,000) purchase after winning an ordinary Maiden point to point in Ireland, Corach Rambler wasted no time in underlining what a value purchase he was by winning his first race over hurdles for his new connections at 14/1. That victory was an indicator of what a good horse Lucinda Russell had on her hands and so it has proved.  Corach Rambler managed to win the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival when still a novice and followed-up in the same race the following season. After that second Cheltenham Festival win all eyes turned to a tilt at the Grand National. Victory at Cheltenham meant that Corach Rambler was a whopping ten pounds ahead of the handicapper at Aintree and punters latched onto the gelding’s obvious chance, making him the 8/1 favourite for the big race. The amount Corach Rambler had in hand of the handicapper was evident from an early stage as he could be seen going ominously well throughout most of the race. Derek Fox eventually took up the running going toward the last fence and the horse immediately went clear. He idled on the run-in and that, combined with Vanillier making a fast finish, meant he only won by just over two lengths but he looked value for a good bit more than that.  For this season, Lucinda Russell gave the horse a couple of outings before Xmas with the idea to try the gelding’s luck in the Gold Cup. Corach Rambler ran a great race at Cheltenham to finish third, thirteen lengths behind Gallopin Des Champs. The main target though has always been a repeat visit to the Grand National. Corach Rambler has to carry thirteen pounds more than last year but that might not be enough to stop the ten-year-old becoming the first horse since Tiger Roll to retain the Aintree Grand National. As well as the considerable amount of extra weight, another concern would be how hard a race did Corach Rambler have in the Gold Cup? That race is notorious for taking its toll on some runners and, with that in mind, Corach Rambler looks a short enough price to retain his crown.

Minella Indo is a dual Cheltenham Festival winner having taken the Albert Bartlett Hurdle in 2019 and the Gold Cup in 2021. To add to those victories he finished runner-up to Allaho in the Brown Advisory in 2020 and again to A Plus Tard when defending the Gold Cup in 2022.  This season trainer Henry de Bromhead has decided to focus Minella Indo at Cross Country races and he was favourite for the Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival before that race was abandoned. Despite recording two victories since his defeat to A Plus Tard in the Gold Cup, Minella Indo’s level of general form has seemed to drop and he has been well beaten in his three attempts at Grade One level since that defeat. It seems sensible then to drop his level of racing down to Cross Country races and he ran really well in defeat in that discipline when humping loads of weight in the Cross Country handicap at the Cheltenham December meeting. He finished fourth, not beaten far, behind Latenightpass. The bookmakers had made Minella Indo favourite for the Festival Cross Country on the back of that run and he has also been well backed for the AIntree Grand National.  It’s difficult to forecast how Minella Indo will get on in an open handicap such as the Grand National for the first time. His victories in the Gold Cup and Albert Bartlett suggest that the extended distance at Aintree might not be a problem for him but the Grand National is always ultra competitive and Minella Indo is definitely not the horse he was. He is eleven-years-old now and set to carry over eleven stone so it would seem likely that he will find a few younger, better handicapped horses too good for him at Aintree.