Lord Windermere, last season’s Gold Cup winner, and Many Clouds, a leading contender for this year’s renewal of the same race next month, are among the candidates to carry top weight of 11st 10lb in the Grand National at Aintree during April after 98 entries for National Hunt’s only £1m race were published on Wednesday.
In terms of numbers, the entry for the 2015 National represents a drop of nearly 15% on the 115 names in the running at the same stage 12 months ago. Only the 40 highest-weighted horses still engaged will be able to run on 11 April, however, and the quality at the top of the handicap remains strong, with four horses – Many Clouds, Sam Winner, Boston Bob and Lord Windermere – with an official rating of 160 or above in Britain or Ireland, and 15 more rated 150 or above.
Official ratings are only a guide to the likely shape of the handicap when the weights are published on 17 February, however, as Phil Smith, the British Horseracing Authority’s senior handicapper, will have the final say on the burden each horse will be asked to carry. The Grand National is the only race of the year with a bespoke set of weights, and Smith will take past performances over the unique spruce fences into account. As in previous years, he also seems sure to compress the weights at the top of the handicap, which will offer extra encouragement to the owners of the classier horses in the entries to let them take their chance.
Many Clouds, the winner of both the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in November and the BetBright Cup Chase at Cheltenham last month, has the highest official BHA rating of any British-trained horse in the field with a mark of 165, and has an identical mark with the Timeform organisation, which rates horses in both Britain and Ireland to the same scale.
If weights were allotted according to official ratings, Many Clouds would carry top weight of 11st 10lb with Sam Winner, third home in the Grade One Lexus Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas when the Jim Culloty-trained Lord Windermere could finish only seventh, next in the list on 11st 7lb. Boston Bob and Lord Windermere would be set to carry 11st 5lb, with Unioniste, Carlingford Lough, First Lieutenant and Double Ross also expected to shoulder 11st or more. Pineau De Re, meanwhile, who has proved disappointing this season after winning last year’s National, would be weighted with 10st 6lb but can expect to carry several pounds more as a result of last year’s victory.
In practice, the horses at the top of the list are likely to be weighted more closely than their official marks would suggest, which will in turn allow more horses to squeeze into the list above the minimum weight of 10 stone.
Other interesting entries for this year’s National include Back In Focus, who won the four-mile National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2013 but has been absent since finishing fourth at Punchestown’s Festival meeting two months later.
Culloty has also entered Spring Heeled, the winner of a valuable handicap at last season’s Cheltenham Festival, as he attempts to achieve the rare feat of winning both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National as both jockey and trainer, while Bob Ford, the easy winner of last Saturday’s West Wales National at Ffos Las, is also among the possible runners.
Bob Ford has been raised 12lb to a mark of 141 by the BHA after his victory at Ffos Las, when he finished a distance clear of Gorgehous Lliege.
“It was a very impressive performance,” Rebecca Curtis, Bob Ford’s trainer, said on Wednesday. “I think the jockey [Paul Townend] got on particularly well with him and he settled well, which helped him get the trip.
“If he’d been the only finisher and had been scrubbed along at the end, I’d have said going up so much in the weights was harsh, but when you look at the way he did it I suppose it’s probably fair. We wouldn’t rule out the National, so with that in mind, it doesn’t bother me too much as if you’re rated around 140 as you should get in on around bottom weight.”
Dynaste, the winner of the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last March and the favourite to follow up in the same race at the Festival next month, will miss the remainder of the season having returned sore after finishing third behind Many Clouds in last month’s BetBright Chase.
“David [Pipe, Dynaste’s trainer] rang me this morning to tell me he would miss Cheltenham and obviously it’s a big blow,” Tom Scudamore, Pipe’s stable jockey, said on Wednesday. “It’s very disappointing and he’ll leave a big hole as far as our Cheltenham is concerned, that’s for sure, but we’re thankful for what he did for us last season and hopefully he’ll be back better than ever.”
Champagne West, a faller when joint-favourite for the Grade One Scilly Isles Novice Chase at Sandown on Saturday, has also been ruled out for the remainder of the season after he was found to have suffered an injury to a hock.
“He knocked a hock and has been sent to Newmarket for an X-ray as we think there might be a chip,” Roger Brookhouse, Champagne West’s owner, said on Wednesday.
“We don’t know how he did it, but he didn’t jump as we know he can on Saturday.”
Faugheen, the ante-post favourite for the Champion Hurdle, could have a run before next month’s Festival, Willie Mullins, who trains both Faugheen and the dual Champion Hurdle winner Hurricane Fly, said on Wednesday.
“We’re looking at the Red Mills [Trial Hurdle at Gowran Park on 14 February], Mullins said. “I think there’s one other contest left in England. We’ll just keep all our options open.
“The horse is in good form. We’ll probably have a chat with Ruby [Walsh, Mullins’s stable jockey] in the next day or so to see if he needs more experience, but at the moment I’m very happy with him.
Faugheen will be joined at Cheltenham by the 11-year-old Hurricane Fly, who will attempt to become the first horse to regain the hurdling championship twice.
“If he was a year younger, or maybe two or three years, he’d be favourite, wouldn’t he?,” Mullins said. “He’s done everything he’s been asked, he’s beaten the reigning Champion Hurdler [Jezki, in the Irish Champion Hurdle last month]. His age is the only thing against him, and possibly people feel Cheltenham is not his track, yet he’s won twice there. I’m going to give him the respect he’s earned, anyway.”
