Irish trainer Gordon Elliott and owners Gigginstown House Stud have their usual glut of early-closing entries in the Grand National this year. Each has 16 different horses with Aintree engagements for the 2021 running of the world’s most famous steeplechase.
Elliott trains 14 possibles for Gigginstown alone, headed by dual Grand National hero Tiger Roll, who could bid to complete his hat-trick in the four-and-a-quarter-mile Merseyside marathon on Saturday, 10 April. Other representatives of the yard include 2020 Irish Gold Cup winner Delta Work, recent Thyestes Chase runner-up Run Wild Fred and notable stable recruit Presenting Percy.
The Grand National has been good to both Elliott and Gigginstown in recent years with each enjoying three wins apiece. Leading Irish owner JP McManus has 11 horses entered from ten different trainers, meanwhile.
Easysland – in a class of his own! 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/6SGb7GpudQ
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 11, 2020
They include last season’s Cross Country Chase sensation Easysland; 2020 Classic Chase winner Kimberlite Candy, twice a runner-up over the famous Grand National fences; and Aintree veteran Anibale Fly. McManus could have entries competing from training bases in three different countries.
Willie Mullins has eight engaged and the headline act of those is 2019 Irish Grand National winner Burrows Saint. The latest horse racing betting on Aintree has him at a standout 33/1 with bet365 to win the English version this year.
From 106 Grand National entries, Nicky Henderson has half-a-dozen hopefuls who could head to Merseyside. Besides 2020 Great Yorkshire Chase victor Ok Corral for McManus, he could also run Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Santini.
Henderson has never won the Grand National, unlike Elliott and Mullins. Another trainer with previous Aintree success is Nigel Twiston-Davies, who has five possible runners. They include veteran staying chasers Ballyoptic and Haydock specialist Bristol De Mai, who won at the other Merseyside course for the fifth time earlier this season.
Philip Hobbs and Henry De Bromhead have four Grand National entries apiece. Deise Aba, trained by the former, is one of three possible runners for owner Trevor Hemmings. Alongside Gigginstown, he is the most successful racehorse owner in the history of the Aintree showpiece.
🏆 Cloth Cap wins the Grade 3 @Ladbrokes Trophy Chase after a blistering display of jumping in the hands of @tommyscu for @JonjoONeill 👏 #LWC20 pic.twitter.com/BI3DjzIFff
— Newbury Racecourse (@NewburyRacing) November 28, 2020
Hemmings could also have his quartered colours carried by Cloth Cap from the Jonjo O’Neill. He was an all-the-way winner of the race best known as the Hennessy Gold Cup at the Newbury Winter Carnival and has the Grand National as his likely end of season target.
Scottish-trained Lake View Lad, who won the Many Clouds Chase on Aintree’s inner Mildmay course in December, is another Hemmings representative for trainer Nick Alexander. Paul Nicholls won the Grand National with Neptune Collonges in 2012 and he has three entries this year.
The trio are all 11 years old, with recent dual Portman Cup scorer Yala Enki and Give Me A Copper, who is part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, among them. There are a couple of Welsh Grand National winners engaged at Aintree too.
Potters Corner from the Christian Williams! stables, who came out from the algorithms as first in the Virtual Grand National, joins Evan Williams’s Secret Reprieve, successful at Chepstow in January, as possibles in the race.
