Juliette's Weekly Frolic
Unless you possess supreme confidence in your judgement, information or pre-race dreams, the Grand National should be approached like the lottery it is. You don't honestly expect to win the Premium Bonds with one certificate and its the same here. There is nothing more soul destroying than to whittle the field painstakingly down to a solitary individual, only to lose him on the first circuit through no fault of his own. But take three, and you'll be unlucky not to get a run for your money, though wait until one is in the firing line at Bechers second time round, before reaching for the brandy and beginning to hope. There are umpteen theories of what constitutes a ' National ' type, but consistently the race is won by an animal with a colourful history of either his own, his owner's or the Sunday papers' making. Spanish Steps with a mum who ran placed on three occasions has the best claim on the sentimental side, but Crisp with an Australian owner coming to cheer him on and Fortune's Bay with his American master actually in the saddle, are not far behind. Petruchio's Son is trained by a woman, Canharis owned by a lord and Proud Tarquin ridden by one — all sound reasons for some modest punting. However, as anyone who has read his papers over the past few weeks will be aware, the claims of Red Rum on this score are second to none. Training spins on the Southport sands, an octogenarian owner who has spent a fortune trying to win the race and a jockey who achieved that very goal five years ago on another 'Red'. But seriously, he has a lot going for him. Donald McCain, was one of the few trainers not to throw up his hands in horror on learning the weights, and with 10.5 he is better off with all those he has run up against this season (excepting the 100-1 chance, Swan Shot), Back in November, after a fifth successive victory, it was decided to put the horse by for the race and a twomonth rest followed by three carefully planned warm-up races should see him on top of the world this Saturday.
Choice number two, Prophecy, has a lot in common with Red Rum but is twice the price. After a string of autumnal victories, he has taken time to return to his best, but recent efforts at Lingfield and Windsor, plus the good omen of Peramulate Saturday victory at Newbury, indicate the Barons horses will be striking it rich this springtime. Grey winners are rare enough, front runners rarer still, so Grey Sombrero has a lot to overcome. He has not raced since before Christmas but if on Saturday the sun should shine and he's allowed to slip his field in proper style, the grey would make a fine sight sailing the final fence.
Reignon and The Benign Bishop unlucky at Cheltenham. can make good the same afternoon. The former lost the County Hurdle by a head and has 8Ib less in Aintree's BP Shield, while the latter, blun dered and hampered in the Arkle Trophy, eventually made up a lot of ground and would be a fitting winner of Kelso's Weir Oliver Homes Chase sponsored by his trainer's firm.
Assets: £70.08 (five to follow, assets: E15.52). Outlay: £2 ew Red Rum; EI ew Prophecy & Grey Sombrero; El ew double, Reignon & Benign Bishop.
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