The Betway Ambassador previews his rides on Day 3 of the Aintree Festival, headlined by his ride on previous Grand National winner, I Am Maximus.
It’s finally here, probably the biggest day in our sport, and I get just as excited for it now as I did when I first rode in the race 17 years ago.
My earliest memories of the Grand National are more about what we did around the race than watching it. As kids, we used to try and find anything green we could get our hands on to wrap around the tyre fence to make it resemble one of the national fences while we jumped our ponies.
I do remember Bobbyjo’s win very fondly, though, because I was a huge Paul Carberry fan, and he was just so stylish, so to see him win that day was pretty cool.
I’d have never imagined in my wildest dreams that I’d win that very same race one day, but winning on I Am Maximus here two years ago was without doubt one of my greatest days in the saddle, and I’d absolutely love it if we could regain our crown this year.
We kick off on Grand National day with Salvator Mundi 5/6 in The Maghull Novices’ (12:45), and his best performance came here at Aintree when winning the novice hurdle last year, so the track really seems to suit him. He was entitled to win his beginners chase last time, but he could hardly have done it any easier, and he’s a horse I’ve always thought a lot of, and there’s no doubting that there’s plenty of ability there.
He comes here fresh after skipping Cheltenham and Fairyhouse, and his work at home has been very good of late, so there are a lot of positives going into the race, and I think he has a massive chance in this.
It’s then onto the big one – The Grand National (16:00), and I can’t wait to ride I Am Maximus 7/1 as he bids to regain his crown. I did have a good think about who to ride, because I think Grangeclare West has a cracking chance, and the recent record of Bobbyjo winners is there for all to see, but I just couldn’t get off the horse that gave me one of my greatest days in the saddle two years ago.
I don’t know what the ground is going to be like come the time of the race, but I’m hoping it’s riding a bit slower than last year, because I’d say it was just a tad on the quick side for I Am Maximus that day. He still ran another unbelievable race, though, and I think the cheekpieces going back on this time could really help him.
The National is a very different race from what it used to be. Yes, you need to stay, and yes, you need to jump well, but you need a much classier horse to win it than in the past, and I Am Maximus stays, jumps, and has a touch of class, so I wouldn’t swap him for anything else in the race.
I’m obviously gutted for connections of Nick Rockett, as he was such an impressive winner last year, but he’ll unfortunately miss the race this time around. He hadn’t had the ideal prep going into it either, but hopefully we’ll see him back on the track very soon.
I would just give a mention to Champ Kiely, as I think he could easily outrun his odds. He’s a Grade 1 winning hurdler, he has a lovely racing weight, and his work at home has been excellent, so if he settles and stays, he’s fully capable of running into a place.
We finish with Look Me 100/30 in the Grade 1 Bumper (17:00), and his form behind I’m Slippy last year reads pretty, with that horse running to a decent level over hurdles since. It was probably a messy enough bumper that he won in a small field at Fairyhouse the next day, but he did it very comfortably, so he’s earned his place in this much stronger contest.
Bass Hunter is probably the right favourite after his third in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival, and if he reproduces that effort, then you’d say he’ll be the one we’ll all have to beat.
There’s a lot of good bumper horses in the yard, though, and this is the one Willie has decided to send here, so you’d have to take that as a big positive.
