The following thirteen horses were withdrawn from the list of Grand National runners at the latest scratchings stage:

IRISH INVADER (IRE), SIEGEMASTER (IRE), ONE COOL COOKIE (IRE), BERONI (IRE), DARKNESS, JAYO (FR), ROYAL COUNTY STAR (IRE), KILCREA CASTLE (IRE), BIBLE LORD (IRE), PARSONS LEGACY (IRE), GLENFINN CAPTAIN (IRE), KILBEGGAN BLADE, OLD BENNY

In addition to this it has been also released that Paul Nicholls’ chaser Taranis will also not be running in either the Gold Cup or the Grand National.

Nicholls’ Tricky Trickster remains the 10/1 favourite for the Grand National 2010 with Skybet

Obviously we will be picking up a lot of readers who may be inexperienced when it comes to the complexities of gambling but are keen to pick up some ideas so something like this could prove ideal for them. Also a thread with trends etc that we all could use a reference point may be a good idea.

With the next forfeit stage due next week the field for the Grand National will start to narrow down and we will begin to get to a stage where a ‘long-list’ might become a ’short-list’ so any bright ideas you have for narrowing down the field for Grand National 2010 would be greatly appreciated on this page.

Thanks
Darren

Please add any quotes on this page that you feel will be useful as to the fitness and/or possible targets of any Grand National runners

I’ll try to keep bouncing this thread so that it continues to be in the five threads in constant view.

PS I’m looking into if we can run a Grand National weights competition and will post something shortly.

Where it all began?

Most people’s earliest gambling memory will be of the Grand National.

Mine was of an annual 10p each way on a horse called The Pilgarlic. I seem to remember that he made the frame on a couple of occasions but never quite got his head in front. It became a family joke that I would be backing ‘that horse with the funny name’. Whatever happened it got me hooked and I’m pleased that it did.

Backing winners used to be easy!

The years have come and gone and the stakes have increased (marginally!) and I have fond (financial and otherwise) of Seagram and Party Politics but mostly of Last Suspect.

I was a Tim Forster fan back in the 80’s and I managed to convince myself that the Duchess of Westminster’s horse wasn’t the screwball that everyone else seemed to think he was. I can’t describe the feeling of backing a 50/1 Grand National winner but to a relatively young and inexperienced punter it was like gold dust.

Unfortunately finding winners since haven’t been quite as easy!

Tell us about your favourite Grand National Horses

Who are your favourite Grand National horses? Did you manage a nice win on your favourite or was there one that got away? Or perhaps it was just a horse you enjoyed watching jumping the big Grand National fences?

Let us know your thoughts.

By the way, does anyone know how many times The Pilgarlic ran in the Grand National and when?

Race              Date          Winner

Galway Plate	 July 29th	Ballyholland

Kerry National 	 16th September	Northern Alliance

Munster National 11th October	Treacle

Servo Hcap 	 14th November	Gallant Nuit

Paddy Power	 15th November  Tranquil Sea

Becher Chase	 22nd November	Vic Venturi

Hennessy	 28th November	Denman

London National	 6th December	Eric's Charm

Neptune Chase	 11th December  The Package

Blue Square Cup  19th December  ABANDONED 

Paddy Power(Leop)27th December  Oscar Time

Welsh National	 28th December  Dream Alliance

Peter Marsh	 23rd January   Our Vic

SkyBet Chase     30th January   ABANDONED

Blue Square Gold Cup 20th February SILVER BY NATURE

Racing Post Ch   27th February RAZOR ROYALE

Eider Chase      27th February ABANDONED
William Hill Hcap 16th March

Chelt Gold Cup	  19th March

Midlands National 20th March

Irish National	  5th April

Topham		  9th April

Grand National	  10th April

Scottish National 17th April

The important dates as far as the entries for the 2010 Grand National have been updated below (Thanks to Gammers for the info):

Entries close noon on Feb 2nd.

Weights announced Feb 16th.

First Forfeit Stage noon on Mar 2nd.

2nd Forfeit Stage noon on Mar 23rd.

Confirmation stage April 5th.

Final Decs April 8th.

Race Day April 10th.

All you have to do is nominate what weight the following horses will be allocated on February 16th and then complete a tiebreaker of EXACTLY how many horses you think will be left in the entries after the publication of the first weights on Tuesday i.e how many horses will be allocated a weight.

The horses we would like you to try and work out Grand National weights for are:

Arbor Supreme
Dream Alliance
Irish Raptor
Mon Mome
Whinstone Boy

Tiebreaker: Number of horses entered at Tuesday 16th February =

Just cut and paste the above paragraph together with your ideas of each horses weight and the number of entries on Tuesday.

You get 10 points for every horse’s weight you get exactly right and 5 points if you are 1lb out either way (higher or lower). Any other weight scores 0.

Entries for this competiton will be accepted up to 10am on Tuesday 16th February.

In the event of one or more of the featured horses not actually featuring in the weights then just the remaining horses will count.

Only one entry per person please and there can be no editing of entries so don’t enter until you are sure you have your final version.

This will just be a fun competiton this year so no prizes apart form the glory of being the Grand National Guide version of Mystic Meg! Regular contributor kj won this competition in 2009 – can she make it a double or will someone else come out on top?

I will also have to ask you all to self score this competition initially as I will be away from my desk until the 22nd of February. I will, of course, check the results on my return but if you would like to work out the winner between you in the interim that would be very helpful.

Good luck to all and let’s try and beat the number of entires to last year’s comp – Get all your mates to have a go!

Darren
Admin

Now we’ve all had time to digest the entries for Grand National 2010 are there any horse you are surprised to see included in the entries and any you were disappointed to see not make the list of potential runners? I was quite surprised to see Our Vic entered – I’m not saying he is not an interesting runner but as the Johnson/Pipe team already have Comply Or Die lined up for the race I was surprised they would possibly chance a horse like Our Vic who has won so many top class races for them.

What about possible Cheltenham Foxhunter candidate Roulez Cool from the Waley-Cohen yard? Did anyone see that horse as a possible Grand National candidate? Surely the general bookmaker quote of 40/1 is on the higly cautious side?

Any of the entries surprise our readers?

I understand some of you are having some issues with the new version of Grand National Blog.

I’d be grateful if you could list any problems you are having on this page and I will ask our technical people to look into the issues.

If you are having technical issues please list the type of browser you are using and the version (i.e. Internet explorer 7, Firefox 3.6 etc) and the type of system you are using (Windows XP etc).

I appreciate some of you are not happy that GN Blog has changed its look but we have had some technical issues with the old version when we gets lots and lots of traffic (we even had to take the blog down on Grand National day last year!) and the switch to this updated (and hopefully more efficient) software is designed to avoid further problems on those lines.

However, if any of you have productive comments you would like to make regarding the look of the new site please also add them here and I will pass them on.

Thanks

Darren
Admin

So, for those of us who are mulling over all things Grand National based for a much longer period of the year, this final week before the entries should be an opportunity to make our knowledge count.

Of course, we have to take calculated risks as to which horses are actually going to be in the entries if we have a bet now but in some cases I would rather take that chance than be scrambling to get a price when the internet and paper tipsters decide they like the look of a horse you’ve been thinking of backing for ages. With that in mind I’d like to ask our knowledgable members to put forward two pre-entries tips – one at Grand National Odds of under 50/1 and a more speculative suggestion as to an outsider that we might consider.

If you had to have two bets now under these circumstances who would you go for and why? I’ll put up similar threads as we get further down the entry process and we can see how our tips develop but I’d really like some early value tips from those of you who are putting in so much work.

I will start things off with Big Fella Thanks and Gone To Lunch.

I’m not sure how many of the main fancies still have any room for improvement but that is not something you could say about Big Fella Thanks. I was very impressed with his run in the Grand National last year for a horse so young and with the benefit of another year’s experience he could well be the horse that ends the Paul Nicholls hoodoo.

My other selection, Gone To Lunch, has been suggested as being aimed at the Scottish National instead, a race he finished second in last year. This may be so but targets often change and at 100+ on the exchanges I think Gone To Lunch could well end up at Aintree but, if not, at those prices we will not have lost too much. If he performs well at Doncaster on Saturday his price could contract so perhaps he is worth a bet now? His stamina and consistent form on decent ground would make him very interesting if he were re-routed to Aintree.

I’ve seen Maljimar put forward as an outsider to consider by some of our contributors and I’d like to see if anyone believes his current price at around 85 represents any value? How about Siegemaster or Parsons Pistol? Anyone taking these Irish horses at big prices?

Please give details of two horses you think are good value in the current Grand National Odds, one at under 50/1 and another at 50/1 or above.