Tiger Roll has class to conquer the race that captivates us all
I backed the winner last year so the pressure is on, but Gordon Elliott’s star is the one for me
The 10-minute drama that enthrals the nation. The one day when racing transcends sport. There is nothing quite like the Grand National.
There is also nothing quite like it to present, as well. It is unscripted, unpredictable, steeped in history and full of stories. It is a race that shatters dreams but creates legends.
Last year I became just the eighth presenter to host terrestrial television coverage of the world’s most famous race, which was a huge honour but also a big responsibility.
The National is the people’s race. Around 1.6million watched ITV’S coverage of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The biggest audience I presented football to would always be when Manchester United met Liverpool: around 3.5 million viewers. The Grand National will get double that and more, as well as hundreds of millions around the globe. It remains a sporting monster.
Nothing gets the nerves going like the director’s assistant saying in my earpiece “30 seconds to on air” on Grand National day. My heart will be beating out of my chest at 1.59pm this afternoon.
The ITV team received a huge boost when last year’s Grand National show was nominated for a Bafta, but I am determined this afternoon’s programme will be even better. I want people to feel like they are 16 again when they watch the National.
So who will win? Last year I got lucky and tipped up One For Arthur to all and sundry, including in these pages, and enjoyed seeing Scottish flags flying high at Aintree for the first time since Rubstic in 1979. The pressure is on to repeat the trick.
I think Blaklion is the best horse in the race. He was fourth last year and is a better horse now. But will he stay the gruelling 4¼ miles?
He burst to the front soon after the Canal Turn last year and looked a certain winner before the petrol gauge hit empty on the run-in. His trainer Nigel Twiston-davies wears his heart on his Paddington Bear duffle-coat and fancies Blaklion’s chances, but stamina is the question.
They go so fast in a modern-day Grand National it is absolutely paramount you select a horse who will stay every yard of the trip.
My beloved Tiger Roll fits that bill. He would do four circuits round Aintree without a bother. He was my best bet of the Cheltenham Festival, staying on gamely to win the Glenfarclas Chase.
That financed a family holiday to Austria so there’s no way I am going to say ‘Goodnight Vienna’ to him now. Gordon Elliott told me the horse has come out of Cheltenham just fine and has been absolutely flying at home. The only question in my mind is his size: the Tiger is tiny and Mick Fitzgerald joked “he may need holes in these big fences to get around”. I think he will get round, and I think he will win.
The odds might not be great, so if you’ve a taste for the big-price each-way chance, leap on Lord Windermere. He won the Gold Cup in 2014, although it has to be admitted that he has done nothing since.
The other interesting long-shot is Houblon Des Obeaux. He’s nearly as old as Brough Scott and, like Brough, has seen it all when it comes to racing. He will relish the conditions.
I was speaking to the inspiring Guy Disney after his amazing achievement: a leg amputation in 2009, and now this week riding around the Grand National fences.
He said it was really soft around the Canal Turn and today’s big race is going to be a stamina test, which will suit Houblon Des Obeaux. His trainer Venetia Williams could not be in better form, too.
If we do not have a winning female jockey, then maybe we will have another female winning trainer. There is a real feeling around Aintree that this could be a year for the ladies.