Grand National horses from Ireland

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.

I Am Maximus started his career with Nicky Henderson but was transferred to Willie Mullins after finishing fourth to Sir Gerhard in the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival two years ago. Mullins immediately sent his new charge over fences but I Am Maximus’ first four races over the larger obstacles all met with defeat, including two failures at odds on. However, a subsequent fourth placing in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase back at the Cheltenham Festival suggested better was to come. Mullins then decided to roll the dice in the horse’s first handicap, the Irish National at Fairyhouse. Things got off to a bad start at Fairyhouse with I Am Maximus making early mistakes and jumping out to his left. Jockey Paul Townend had to give his mount a stern reminder after the sixth fence and most of the horse’s supporters must have felt they had little chance of being involved in the finish. The horse was last with nine fences to go but Townend produced one of the rides of his career to cajole his mount into a challenging position on the home turn and came with a strong challenge jumping the last fence. Somehow Townend galvanised his partner into the lead to overhaul Gordon Elliott’s Gevrey by a length at the winning post. I Am Maximus had touched 120 in running in what was a truly remarkable victory, marking the gelding down as a hugely talented but difficult ride and his jockey as one of the top riders in the sport. A quirk in the Irish Rule Book allowed I Am Maximus to contest a Grade One Novice Chase on his seasonal debut in December despite having already won over fences last season. Most observers saw this as his canny trainer running his horse in a valuable pipe-opener to his season but I Am Maximus had other ideas and confounded the pundits by being able to win at the highest level over a distance way short of his best (two and a half miles). Mullins then decided to push I Am Maximus into top-class company at three miles to see if he could become a Gold Cup horse. The eight-year-old gelding found this a step too far and was well beaten in the Savills Chase and the Irish Gold Cup prompting Mullins to say that those efforts had persuaded him to focus predominantly on the Aintree Grand National this season. The British handicapper gave I Am Maximus a rating of 159, one pound higher than his Irish mark but the horse then went on to put in another stunning performance when taking the famous Grand National trial, the Bobbyjo back at Fairyhouse. That win resulted in a six-pound rise in Ireland meaning that I Am Maximus is effectively five pounds ahead of his current mark in the Grand National. The bookmakers reacted to his Bobbyjo victory by pushing him close to favouritism for Aintree. Undoubtedly I Am Maximus could be a major force at Aintree but punters should not forget how slow he was to warm up in the Irish version and how his jumping can be a real concern. Another factor to consider is that his three best performances have all come right-handed and he is yet to win over fences when racing left-handed. It could be that he is well ahead of the handicapper and he may be able to overcome any concerns about his style of racing but perhaps the value has now evaporated from his price for Aintree.

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.