The 172nd edition of the world's greatest steeplechase is almost upon us, with the 2019 Randox Health Grand National set to take place this weekend.
All eyes will be on the Aintree Racecourse on April 6 to see if Gordon Elliott's 7-2 hot favourite and defending champion Tiger Roll - who completed a dominant Glenfarclas Chase victory at Cheltenham last month - can imitate the great Red Rum by becoming the first horse to claim successive victories on Merseyside for 45 years.
Last year, the nine-year-old held off Pleasant Company in an exciting photo finish.
When are the 40 horses confirmed?
There are currently 69 horses left in the Grand National running after Monday's five-day confirmation stage, which saw 12 withdrawn from contention.
The anticipated exit of the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Bristol De Mai, who will instead run in Thursday's Betway Bowl, saw the weights raised by 4lb, with Gold Cup runner-up Anibale Fly now the top weight at 11st 10lb.
The last declaration stage for the final 40 runners and riders - plus four additional reserves - is on Thursday at 10am GMT.
Any non-runners must be subsequently declared by 1pm on Friday afternoon, with one of those aforementioned reserves drafted in as a replacement if necessary.
Per the official Grand National website, this is also the stage where "any horses who were previously allocated weights of less than 10st will have their weight increased to meet requirements".
