Grand National for spectacle, Peddlers Cross for the dosh
It will take between nine and 10 minutes to run and is the only contest for the entire year with the capacity to reach out to those who have little interest in the racing game.
The Melbourne Cup is known as the race which stops a nation and while the National won’t quite manage that, on either side of the Irish Sea, it will have millions glued to the action.
What will win? Must confess to not having a clue and, once again, will resist an investment.
But that will in no way diminish the pleasure watching the National will bring and, indeed, might even enhance it.
In any case, the world and its mother will try and solve this puzzle and there can be no better buzz than if your particular fancy is still in contention entering the final mile.
My buzz today, hopefully, will come earlier in the afternoon, in the Grade 1 John Smith’s Aintree Hurdle.
Can’t wait to see Peddlers Cross in action again and there will be no hesitation when it comes to reaching for the pocket here.
He has come a long way in a relatively short time and is a horse with a massive future. Peddlers Cross began life in a point-to-point at Liscarroll in March of 2009, winning a maiden at 10-1.
He followed with success in a Haydock bumper and then reeled off six straight wins over flights. Two years after Liscarroll, he almost won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, only giving best to a brilliant winner in Hurricane Fly.
We know he stays at least two miles and five furlongs, having won the Neptune at Cheltenham last year. We know Aintree holds no fears for him, having won over today’s course and distance a year ago. So what can go wrong?
IT’S what’s known as an Irish solution to an Irish problem. As most people who go racing are aware, there is one major restriction on what you can do in a betting office at a racecourse.
If you head to Tramore today, for instance, you cannot back a horse to win any race at Tramore in the on-site betting office.
You can back a horse to win anywhere else, Aintree, Thirsk or whatever. The thinking behind the rule is to protect the on-course bookmaker and to ensure as much business as possible goes to them.
It is something which has obvious merit, the basis of which is that on-course bookmakers are already fighting an uphill battle anyway against the exchanges.
But in another way the silliness of the whole thing was never better illustrated than at Limerick last Sunday.
Well before racing was due to commence, a press room colleague, not at all adverse to having a decent wager, was anxious to back Last Instalment at 2-1 in the offices to win a novice hurdle.
He wanted €500 on, but couldn’t have the bet on track at Limerick. He could, however, back the horse in a double.
And so off he toddled to the Ladbrokes office and had a €500 double, Last Instalment at 2-1 and Roscommon footballers to beat Kilkenny at 1-500.
Now after Last Instalment had done the business, our intrepid punter was left waiting on Roscommon. His bet now amounted to €1,500 to win €3.
Lucky for him, Roscommon managed to squeeze past Kilkenny by 0-25 to 0-1! But, surely only this country could arrive at a system which forced an intelligent young man to behave in such a manner?
DO we have any idea just how good Dermot Weld’s bumper horse Waaheb really is?
He’s won three from three now and the way he travelled through his latest assignment at Limerick on Sunday was mighty impressive.
The Weld camp seem to think he will improve again for better ground and, though only a four-year-old, I think we are going to have to be with him come the Punchestown festival.
GORDON ELLIOTT is on record as saying his ambition is to be champion trainer at some stage in the future.
That will be easier said than done, with Willie Mullins having a powerful army at his disposal and getting stronger by the minute.
But two races of late emphasised that Elliott is a hugely talented operator. The first came at Gowran Park a week ago.
Elliott won a maiden hurdle with Eight Is My Number, who was the medium of sustained support throughout the morning and went off the 6-4 favourite.
Now the horse hadn’t been seen since finishing third at Navan in November and, you’d imagine, may have had a problem.
So it was over four months since his previous outing and yet punters had sufficient faith in the trainer to make light of that and go for a touch.
Eight Is My Number didn’t just win, he hardly broke sweat, cruising home seven lengths clear and looking a very nice prospect indeed for the future.
At Aintree on Thursday, however, Elliott produced an even better rabbit out of the proverbial hat with Russian War.
Now this was altogether a more competitive race, compared to Gowran, a fiercely contested 22-runner handicap hurdle.
Russian War hadn’t been seen for 144 days, not since finishing a remote 10th behind Grands Crus at Cheltenham in early November.
It was difficult to make a case for him, but once Paul Carberry asked Russian War to quicken away from the final flight, there was only going to be one result.
Elliott clearly has an uncanny ability to get it right when it really matters and there is only one way this guy’s career is going, and that’s up.
