Three early contenders for the Grand National

With spring on the horizon, we are beginning to reach the exciting peak of the National Hunt racing season. The prospect of racegoers back in attendance at both Prestbury Park for the Cheltenham Festival next month and Aintree for the Grand National Festival in April, is helping build a lot of anticipation ahead of those meetings and with tickets soaring out of the box office at record speeds, we could be in for some of the most exciting jumps racing action in years.
With Cheltenham up first, the Festival is dominating most of the headlines in the racing world at the minute. But we’re going to skip over the prestigious four-day meeting for the time being and turn our attention to the race the whole world comes to a standstill for — the Grand National. Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore made history last year, but who’ll be writing their name in the record books in a couple of months’ time? Let’s take a look.

Any Second Now
One of the favourites in the horse racing betting online ahead of last year’s race, Any Second Now could fare no better than third for trainer Ted Walsh and jockey Mark Walsh as Minella Times, another of JP McManus’ several entries, stormed home in first in the famous green and yellow hoops of the esteemed owner. He hasn’t had a great start to this season, finishing ninth in the Tara Handicap Hurdle at Navan in December before managing a slightly better sixth place finish in the Grade 2 Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park late last month. How he handled the challenging Aintree last April could be why he’s set to be one the frontrunners this year.

Galvin
After being slapped with a ban ahead of the business end of last season, serving just half of the 12-month suspension, Gordon Elliott has had his trainer’s licence reinstated and what better way to make his return to the sport than having a successful Cheltenham Festival and landing a maiden Grand National triumph? Galvin won all five of his races last season, most notably the Grade 2 National Hunt Challenge Cup at Cheltenham, and has started this season in fine form as well with two wins from three contests — including a win over Gold Cup favourite A Plus Tard. He looks set to go to Cheltenham for the Blue Ribband event and whether that will affect his Grand National plans remains to be seen.

Run Wild Fred
If Galvin doesn’t recover in time for a crack at the testing Grand National, then Elliott has another great chance of victory in the form of Run Wild Fred. The eight-year-old was second in a Grade Novice Chase at Cork on seasonal appearance back in October, but was back in the winners’ enclosure for the first time in nine attempts, dating back to February 2020, at Navan in November — winning the Troytown Handicap Chase at Navan. He had to settle for second again in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novice Chase at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival, but it’s the kind of form that could see him in contention at Aintree. He’ll head to Cheltenham for the National Hunt Challenge Cup and that could be the perfect final preparation for the Grand National.