Comments on: Big Weekend For 2009 Grand National Hopefuls

By: wacky

wacky — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:11:35 +0000

Hi WTHIW,In answer to your question i’ve only backed 2 horses so far.They are the only 2 that fit the trends on most counts and they are Southern Vic(Small e-w)+ Rambling Minster(Bucket loads e-w)Will i back any others?That depends on how some horses run between now and the race and how much the weights go up.I do think that Black Apalachi will be placed but worried that the weight will tell in the end.The reason i’ve gone off SV is that its breeding(strong gale)has a poor record and the last 6 irish bred winners have run over hurdles in at least 1 of its last 2 runs before the national.Hope that helps and sorry about last year as like this year i will try 2 win big on 1 horse and save on others(COD)that fit the trends!!!

By: Brody

Brody — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:45:13 +0000

How old is Mouse Morris? He’s like a 9 year old petulant school child, whose not happy that his team is losing football at play time, its my ball and I’m taking it home. Maybe he should just be happy WoA got such a lenient mark not moaning about his jobbed up good thing beng nobbled. Butler’s got a far bigger pull and I haven’t heard any such whining from Jonjo, his racist whining on weights day did him no favours either.

By: Wacky? Who the heck is wacky?

Wacky? Who the heck is wacky? — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:21:29 +0000

Wacky just how many masts do you have this year with a flag flying from them.

Not so long ago you said that you had 2 horses and they were southern vic and Rambling minster.

Now that you think southern vic had a bad run at the weekend you then say that rambling minster is your only horse and then you add in Black Apalachi.

Dont get me wrong i think you have some very valid and good points to make on the GN but please come real and tell the truth about which horses are already carrying your money this year and then how many more will carry it before the big day.

We do not need a repeat of last year when yu claimed D’argent was the one and then after the national you came on boasting how you picked Comply or die out and everyone should of listened to you.

By: Daniel Edwards

Daniel Edwards — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:55:35 +0000

Re Hear The Echo, from the RacingPost website;

However, Morris has issued a warning to ante-post punters thinking of backing Hear The Echo.

Last season’s Irish National winner has been prominent in the betting for the Aintree spectacular ever since his display at Fairyhouse last April.

Mouse Morris: issues warning

PICTURE: Mark Cranham But his treatment at the hands of the English handicapper has left Morris in two minds over whether to bring the eight-year-old across the water.

“He’s in good form. We were training him for the English National but the way the weights have gone I have to make a decision whether to go for the Irish one instead as he’s a lot better off,” said Morris.

“He’s got 10st 11lb and that’s way too much compared to his mark over here as he’s only rated 145. He’s only getting 4lb off War Of Attrition and that doesn’t make logical sense.

By: Brody

Brody — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:24:26 +0000

Btw one more thing on SV before I drop it, lets not rewrite history he did not jump fine until his error at the 3rd last, (which under almost any other jockey would have gone down in his form book as U) he also made mistakes further out particularly at the 12th which had me very worried those kind of errors will be exposed over GN fences I fear.

By: Brody

Brody — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:20:08 +0000

Jimmy Mangan obviously thinks Himalayan Trail needs more work to get him fit he’s entered him for another Hurdle race on Thursday at Thurles only over 2m2f. Fingers crossed for a more encouraging run though that short trip will surely not suit!

By: The Stayer

The Stayer — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:40:52 +0000

Interesting thing about Southern Vic; he seems to have made a bad jumping error in Bobbyjo chase when things were hotting up,(is this correct?) and unseated at the canal turn in becher just when the race was really starting.

You can watch the Becher Chase on the BBC website. Have a look at Souther Vic’s unseat, it’s one of the softest i’ve ever seen. The horse barely made a mistake and had been jumping well until then.

By: crisp 73

crisp 73 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:04:14 +0000

By: SportyGirl

SportyGirl — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:10:07 +0000

Fair comments Stayer, but Notre Pere looks to have a bit of class and worries me, even with a burden.

By: The Stayer

The Stayer — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:51:36 +0000

SportyGirl,

Fair points regarding Southern Vic. I’ve backed the horse and immediately after the race thought I had done my money for sure. As I said on the other thread though, after viewing the race again and also looking through his form, that initial reaction was a bit rash. He was going well when he made that blunder and the form book tells us he’s a better horse going left handed so here’s to hoping.

Silver Birch makes a good point about the market. A few firms nudged him back out to 33s straight after the race but one has since clipped him back into 25s. His price on Betfair is also holding up at around 26/27 so people must be backing him somewhere.

With regards Notre Pere, he looks to me to be a slow horse that loves a slog in the mud and he’s going to have a massive weight. On decent ground he won’t have the pace and though testing ground would suit, he will have to slog a massive weight through it and fellow mudlarks like Priests Leap and Black Apalachi would have much less of a burden.