TRYING to pick the Grand National 1-2-3-4 is improbable, but not impossible.
Last year’s tri-cast paid an eye-watering £4,148.87 and with 2021 paying a jaw dropping £8,593.94 too, it’s worth having a small stab at a slice of history.
Noble Yeats led home a £4,148 tri-cast last year at odds of 66-1
Some of the last ten winners of the National have gone off at prices of 66-1, 50-1, 33-1 and 25-1, so I’m happy to take the plunge on Gabbys Cross for Henry de Bromhead.
He crashed his way through the final two fences over 3m at Naas last month but was still running on powerfully and although this is a big step up in grade, his lovely racing weight gives him an excellent chance if he takes to the challenge.
Backers of Corach Rambler would have been concerned by his drift yesterday, but he’s back into a general 10-1 shot and that is the correct price.
He won back-to-back runnings of the Ultima at Cheltenham last time, gliding his way through the field and winning with something in hand.
10st 5lb is an ideal National weight and it would be staggering if he didn’t stay the trip for the all-conquering Lucinda Russell yard, who have won with five of their last 16 horses.
Any tri-cast should include the classy Delta Work, who stuck his neck out and denied Galvin in the Cheltenham Cross Country last month.
He loves these fences and although he didn’t quite get home last year, he is lower in the weights and that could make all the difference.
The Big Breakaway can sometimes jump like a wardrobe, but he was runner-up in the Welsh Grand National over Christmas and has plenty of back class to call upon.
He’s risky because if he does throw in a dodgy round of jumping, he’ll be well beaten, but the blinkers go on and the incoming rain will only have aided his chances.
