Sean Flanagan is looking forward to the mount on Vanillier in the Randox Grand National at Aintree on Saturday and is hopeful the grey gelding can go one better than he did two years ago.
The three-day Grand National meeting gets underway this afternoon with plenty of Irish interest in all seven races at Aintree, with an opening day card that includes four Grade 1 events highlighted by the clash of Lossiemouth and Constitution Hill in the William Hill Aintree Hurdle at 3.30.
Dramatic Arkle winner Jango Baie steps back up to what connections believe will be a more suitable trip in Thursday’s EBC Group Manifesto Novices’ Chase which kicks off the three-day Aintree festival.
Constitution Hill arguably has a point to prove when he lines up for the William Hill Aintree Hurdle on Thursday.
Joseph O’Brien holds a pair of aces ahead of the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle, with both Cheltenham Festival winner Puturhandstogether and Naturally Nimble bidding for Aintree glory.
Events of recent weeks have once again shown how precarious ante post betting can be.
Galopin Des Champs getting beaten by a horse that hadn’t even been among the original entries for the Gold Cup must have been a sore loss to take for his ante post supporters.
My Racing StorySponsored By Tote
I'm from a place called Ballymore just outside Mullingar and am from a farming background. We were always farming when we were young, and playing football and hurling. An English lady called Clarissa Crowl came over to live near us at home and she would hunt horses. We started to help her out and she taught us how to ride in return. My twin brother, Joseph, and I both started riding and hunting there, and we enjoyed it. It all sort of built from there. It was a great grounding as she was an English lady that came over to hunt and she did things properly. Everything stood to us from dress code to producing the horses properly, and doing everything right in relation to stable management. That has stood to us the whole way through.
Prize money concerns and Michael O'Sullivan critical incident review
Vincent Finegan, Emma Nagle and Johnny Ward discuss all the big topics from the past week and look ahead to the Aintree Festival which begins on Thursday
