National weights leave Tiger Roll bid in balance
Ho’leary refuses to commit after dual winner given 11st 9lb hmissing Aintree would be ‘disappointing’, admits Elliott
Tiger Roll’s chance of going for a third Grand National victory remained uncertain yesterday after the announcement of the weights for the Randox Health-sponsored event at Aintree on April 10.
Trainer Gordon Elliott described the 11st 9lb allocation as “fair”, but there was a somewhat cooler “no comment” from Eddie O’leary, brother and racing manager to the 11-year-old’s owner, Michael O’leary.
It remains to be seen whether the owner goes ahead with his threat to run the horse in the Irish National, or to retire him, instead of having a crack at Red Rum’s record of three Aintree wins.
The weights were announced without their usual fanfare at a Liverpool landmark. Like so many things in the past year, they were instead revealed in a Zoom call.
Tiger Roll was allocated 1lb less than the top-weight of 11st 10lb – a burden set to be carried by Bristol De Mai, Easysland and Santini – which equates to a rating of 166. Tiger Roll won his first National off 150, his second off 159 and would have run off 170 had the race taken place last year.
“No comment on Tiger Roll,” said Eddie O’leary, “but we’re happy enough that we’ve got 10 that would make the cut and we’ll see which of them runs at the next stage.”
After Tiger Roll returned home lame behind having been pulled up at halfway in the Glenfarclas Crosscountry at Cheltenham in November, Elliott said he was back in good form and, provided the ground was not bottomless, could be out this weekend at Naas or Navan.
“I think, with age, he wants better ground,” explained Elliott. “I only train him, I don’t own him and Michael will make the final decision. It would be disappointing if he didn’t turn up for the third in a row.
“I rarely query a decision of the handicapper, he has his job to do, I have my job to do. I respect his decision.”
Martin Greenwood, the British Horseracing Authority’s senior jumps handicapper, described rating Tiger Roll as a “tricky one”.
He said: “He’s had four runs since this time last year, which has yielded nothing except a second at Cheltenham. His rating is the same as that given to Many Clouds when he went back a year after winning. It’s a downgrade from last year.
“I go about the job like any other race and I’m not influenced by anyone questioning my ratings. It’s like Schrodinger’s Cat – he’ll either run or he won’t, it’s out of my control.”
Of course, there is much water yet to flow under the Aintree bridge before April 10, but a number of unexposed horses lower down the weights stand out.
Cloth Cap, the runaway Hennessy winner bidding to give owner Trevor Hemmings a fourth win, is vying for favouritism at about 16-1 with Tiger Roll after he was given 10st 5lb, while Secret Reprieve, the Welsh National winner, is set to carry 10st 1lb. Kimberlite Candy has already proved his liking for the course and looks attractively weighted off 10st 10lb.