Tony McFadden highlights three points of interest in the Grand National on Saturday.
Iroko the potential improver
Iroko, one of four seven-year-olds in the line-up, has already reached a very smart level of form, but he remains with untapped potential after only seven starts over fences and is the only runner in this year's race with the Timeform 'small p' to highlight he's a likely improver.
He has failed to win this season, but, in a campaign which has revolved around the Grand National, he has shaped with plenty of encouragement in his three completed starts, notably when chasing home the talented Grey Dawning at Kelso last month.
The way Iroko stuck to his task at Kelso bodes well for his prospects of staying this much longer trip and Timeform's reporter awarded him the Horse In Focus Flag to mark him out as one likely to be of interest next time.
The level of form Iroko showed behind Grey Dawning suggests a BHA mark of 152 could be lenient and he narrowly tops Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings (183p). However, the performance that arguably offers most encouragement that Iroko could be a very well-handicapped staying chaser is his runner-up effort in last season's Grade 1 Mildmay Novices' Chase at Aintree where he split Inothewayurthinkin and Heart Wood.
That looked like a good performance at the time - especially when you consider his first campaign over fences was far from plain sailing because of a mid-season setback - but it appears even better following the latest Cheltenham Festival. Inothewayurthinkin was an emphatic winner of the Gold Cup and Heart Wood was runner-up in the Ryanair Chase. Perhaps Iroko is also a Grade 1-calibre open chaser.
Cromwell fields strong National team
Connections of Inothewayurthinkin decided to swerve a Grand National attempt with the Gold Cup winner but his trainer Gavin Cromwell can still rely on a strong team.
Cromwell is responsible for three of the top ten on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings with Stumptown (182), Perceval Legallois (181) and Vanillier (178), with the first two behind only Iroko in the ratings list.
Two of the team, Stumptown and Vanillier, ran in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham off the same mark they will compete from at Aintree.
Stumptown ran out a seven-length winner there, proving very strong up the run-in, but it's possible he may have been given something to think about had his stablemate - who also finished with purpose - not almost taken the wrong course and consequently forfeited plenty of ground in the early stages.
The Cross Country has had a significant impact on the Grand National in recent years, most notably with Tiger Roll who did the Cheltenham and Aintree double in 2018 and 2019, while Delta Work and Galvin have also run well in both races. However, the pick of Cromwell's team may well be his runner who missed the Festival: Perceval Legallois.
Perceval Legallois has been hampered by jumping errors at times, but he put it all together in the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown. That big-field and valuable affair is usually ultra competitive, but Perceval Legallois stormed home after the final fence and struck by seven lengths. He backed that up with another big-field win in a handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival and has to be respected on the back of those two impressive displays. Indeed, Perceval Legallois has the Timeform Horse In Focus Flag (as does Cheltenham eye-catcher Vanillier).
Henderson has realistic hope with Hyland
Nicky Henderson went close to winning the Grand National in 1979 with his first runner in the race, Zongalero, who finished runner-up to Rubstic. However, despite enjoying a remarkably successful training career, a Grand National win has proved elusive.
Henderson had a third in 1986 with Classified, a runner-up in 1987 with The Tsarevich and a fourth in 1990 with Brown Windsor. However, there has been very little to shout about since then.
He has two contenders this year with Chantry House and Hyland, with the latter holding much stronger claims of the pair. Indeed, Hyland, with a weight-adjusted rating of 180, is fourth in Timeform's ratings list behind only Iroko, Stumptown and Perceval Legallois.
That rating is based on Hyland's second to The Jukebox Man in the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices' Chase at Kempton over Christmas, though he also ran a promising race when runner-up, albeit beaten 15 lengths, in a valuable handicap back at that track last month. He ended up with too much to do there but ran on well to prove best of the rest, earning the Horse In Focus Flag from Timeform's reporter in the process.
Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings
183p Iroko
182 Stumptown
181 Perceval Legallois
180 Hyland
179+ Intense Raffles
179 Hewick
178 Threeunderthrufive
178 Vanillier
178 Three Card Brag
177 Grangeclare West
177 Minella Indo
177 Fil Dor
177 Monbeg Genius
176+ Beauport
176 I Am Maximus
176 Nick Rockett
176 Appreciate It
176 Broadway Boy
176 Meetingofthewaters
176 Duffle Coat
176§ Chantry House
175 Bravemansgame
175 Twig
175§ Hitman
174 Senior Chief
174? Royale Pagaille
174? Horantzau d'Airy
173 Minella Cocooner
173 Conflated
173 Kandoo Kid
173? Idas Boy
170 Celebre d'Allen
168 Coko Beach
? Stay Away Fay
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
