Grand National

GRAND YEAR FOR THE IRISH?

A ‘Grand’ year for the Irish?

The Cheltenham Festival saw another four days of Irish dominance, as they won the Prestbury Cup 18-10. And Irish-trained runners have a fantastic recent record in the Grand National, with five of the last six winners coming from the Emerald Isle.

Just last year Noble Yeats continued the winning Irish theme by putting in a clear round of jumping to beat Any Second Now by two-and-a-quarter lengths.

In 2022, 21 of the 40 runners were trained in Ireland and that’s the first time in Grand National history that half of the field were made up by Irish-trained runners.

So, it might not be a surprise to see that nine of the 15 finishers came from Ireland, with four of Gordon Elliott’s string completing the course. Not only that, but the 1-2-3 were all Irish-trained!

Despite that, it’s not quite the achievement of 2021 where Irish runners filled the first five places, including the historic victory for Minella Times and Rachael Blackmore. That was another Grand National renewal that saw the Ireland dominant with 12 of the 15 finishers.

Irish trainers to look out for in 2023

It’s always hard to ignore the name Willie Mullins given how well his horses tend to run on the big day. It’s testament to the way he targets his runners for races and gets them to peak at the right time.

That said, Mullins has only won the Grand National once. That was when Hedgehunter justified favouritism in 2005.

Since then, Gordon Elliott has won the world’s greatest steeplechase on three occasions – Silver Birch (2007) and Tiger Roll (2018 & 2019). This year, he could send out dual-Cheltenham Festival Cross Country winner Delta Work, who was third last April.

Ted Walsh and Martin Brassil have both had success in Grand National. Walsh has seen Any Second Now place in the last two renewals of the race, while Longhouse Poet completed 12 months ago, coming home in sixth.