Sam Twiston-Davies has been handed his best chance yet of Grand National glory, having landed the mount aboard the favourite, Blaklion, trained by his father. Twiston-Davies had been expected to ride for the trainer Paul Nicholls, who is his main employer and has several possible runners, but Nicholls has freed the jockey to ride Blaklion, a general 10-1 shot for the race on 14 April.
“I mean, Blaklion’s favourite for the National, so of course I’m going to help him,” Nicholls said. “When you’ve got a good team of jockeys you can all work together and it’s the only way to do it.
“To be honest, the only two that we’ll probably run will be Warrior’s Tale and As De Mee. Sean Bowen always rides both of those and I’ve got Harry Cobden as well.”
It is most unusual for a high-profile yard to release its number one jockey to ride against its own horses in the most valuable race of the year. But anyone who imagines this is the beginning of the end for Nicholls and Twiston‑Davies as a team is barking up the wrong tree, the trainer said.
“No, no, no, absolutely, totally not. I said to Sam: ‘Your choice this weekend is to go to Ascot and ride Frodon or go to Haydock and ride Zarkandar, which do you think gives you the best chance?’” The jockey replied by pointing out that, if he went to Haydock, he could ride Blaklion as well. But he would only be able to do that if he could also commit to riding the horse at Aintree.
The outcome averts a headache for Nicholls, who already had two of his jockeys, Bryony Frost and Sean Bowen, going to Ascot on Saturday, while Cobden is to ride at Wincanton. Frost will now take the ride on Frodon in the Ascot Chase.
Meanwhile, the senior British handicapper has avoided another barrage of criticism from the Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, who was scathing about the weights allotted to his horses for the Grand National last year and withdrew the best of them. O’Leary’s brother and racing manager, Eddie, said on Wednesday that this year’s set of weights were “open and transparent”.
“It’s a very straight handicap, which is perfect,” he said. “He hasn’t done any of his jiggery pokery. So there’s absolutely no complaints whatsoever, you’ll be very upset to hear. We’ve absolutely no issues with it and it baffles me why the Irish horses can’t have an automatic mark in England, certainly horses on 130 and over. We shouldn’t have to wonder what mark we’re going to get.”
Kelso 1.25 Rons Dream 1.55 Taxmeifyoucan 2.25 Cyrus Darius 3.00 Big River 3.35 Planet Nine 4.05 Sir Jack Yeats 4.40 Dr Hooves
Leicester 1.40 Skipping On 2.15 Dylanseoghan 2.45 Creep Desbois 3.20 Tree Of Liberty (nb) 3.55 Miss Tongabezi 4.30 Hazel Hill
Fontwell 2.05 Doctor Bartolo 2.35 Distingo 3.10 Bramble Brook 3.45 Minellatillmorning 4.20 Matrow’s Lady 4.55 Looks Frozen
Chelmsford 5.55 Maraakib 6.30 Mambo Dancer 7.00 Sir Hamilton 7.30 Spare Parts 8.00 Harbour Patrol (nap) 8.30 Be Bold 9.00 Volturnus
– Tips by Chris Cook.
