Grand National Tips: Aintree 4:00pm Verdict from the Freebets Experts
The Grand National takes place at 4:00pm today, with 34 runners going to post in what looks to be a wide open contest.
Whether you're studying the formbook or picking colours, below we've got the views of our horse racing team on Free Bets, as they deliver you their Grand National tips.
Still undecided who you're picking in the big one, get tips and reasoning from the two resident tipsters on our site below.
Grand National Tips
Charlie McCann and Alan Kelly have put together their Grand National selections, with full reasoning for their choices.
They have a total of four horses between them, and without giving away the spoiler, they've actually both tipped the same runner as one of their selections!
Get their Grand National tips plus the latest odds from betting sites below.
Charlie McCann's Grand National Tips
I am writing this before the Topham, but I thought the National fences looked smaller than ever in Thursday’s Foxhunters and I’m not convinced that you need to be a great jumper to win the great race anymore. What you need is to be well handicapped with a touch of class and the stamina reserves for this 4m2f trip.
The shortlist seems longer than ever this year with previous winner I Am Maximus, Grangeclare West, Jagwar and Iroko high up on that fictious list, but in the end my two against the field are the mare PANIC ATTACK and GORGEOUS TOM.
Panic Attack has been a revelation this term winning the Paddy Power Gold Cup and Ladbrokes Trophy (or is it Coral?) and looked in need of a step back up in distance when third at Cheltenham over an extended 2m4f in the Mares’ Chase last time.
A fast fluent jumper she is bidding to become the first mare to win the race since 1951 (Nickel Coin), but she remains at the right end of the handicap and, if she stays, she looks sure to run a big race. A National win would put the icing on a terrific campaign for the Dan Skelton yard.
Gorgeous Tom is 11lbs better off with Panic Attack for the eleven lengths he was behind the winner at Newbury, and he is one of two Henry De Bromhead horses (also Monty’s Star) who look to have been laid out for the race. The dam of Gorgeous Tom is a half-sister to National runner up Cappa Bleu, and the hope is that his stamina stretches to this test.
He will relish the ground; trainer Henry De Bromhead knows what it takes to land the great race and he has only had the one start over an inadequate trip since the Ladbrokes Trophy. He has never won beyond two-and-a-half miles over fences, so the trends and stats gurus will say he has zero chance but, in a wide open renewal, I am swimming against the tide with a mare and one who has not won at three miles, let alone four-and-a-quarter!
Recommendations: Panic Attack EW at 17/2 with Unibet and Starsports (6 places) and Gorgeous Tom EW at 25/1 six places across the board
Alan Kelly's Grand National Tips
Having already nominated Gavin Cromwell’s Final Orders in the ante-post market for the race at odds of 50/1 (now no bigger than 25/1) I will add another couple of strings to my bow in the shape of Captain Cody and Gorgeous Tom, like Final Orders both with leading trainers from across the Irish Sea.
The Grand National is a completely different race to what it used to be in the 20th century, where the emphasis was on stamina and jumping ability. While those two factors are still important, changes to the course now favour horses with a touch of class and the potential to improve upon what they have so far achieved. It’s interesting that 6 of the last 10 winners of the race were eight-year-olds, the same age as both of our selections (Final Orders a 10-year-old).
Captain Cody, one of 9 runners for Closutton trainer Willie Mullins, has been campaigned with this race in mind since running out the comfortable winner of the Scottish Grand National 12 months ago (looked the winner from some way out in the hands of jockey Harry Cobden).
Apart from finishing a creditable 7th of 28 in Leopardstown’s Paddy Power Chase over Christmas (didn’t get the best of starts), the Arctic Cosmos gelding’s other runs have come on testing ground in Grade 3 and Grade 2 company. With a nice weight of 10st 10lb to carry, Jonathan Burke’s mount ticks plenty of boxes.
Fourth behind Lecky Watson in last year’s Grade 1 Browns Advisory at the Cheltenham Festival, Henry De Bromhead’s Gorgeous Tom is another who looks to have been laid out with today’s race in mind. Fourth behind fellow rival Panic Attack in the 24-runner Coral Gold Cup on his penultimate start (meets Dan Skelton’s runner on 8lb better terms), Sean Flanagan’s mount ran well to be beaten 6 lengths over an inadequate trip of just over 2m 5f in a handicap at Leopardstown last month and, like Captain Cody, is another who is more than capable of a big run if taking to Aintree’s unique fences.
Recommendations: Final Orders EW at 50/1, Captain Cody EW at 16/1 and Gorgeous Tom EW at 28/1
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