Fairyhouse form good news for pair in Grand National
Published:The Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park may be the better guide to providing a Grand National winner, but each-way punters will do well to look at the full results card of the BobbyJo Chase at Fairyhouse.
Irish horses are certainly prominent in the Grand National betting at present as they occupy five of the top seven spots and the success they had at the Cheltenham Festival is only another fillip to their chances, with a record 14 victories.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that Irish-bred horses have triumphed in the Grand National on eight occasions in the last decade.
On His Own is one of the 10/1 favourites and his prospects are enhanced by his victory in last season’s Thyestes Chase.
Of the last five winners of this contest to compete in the Grand National in the following season, two have been successful.
However, the BobbyJo Chase has regularly featured a horse to finish among the places in the Grand National, which is good news for both Prince De Beauchene and Seabass this time, who are the other two joint favourites at 10/1.
Both were beaten at Fairyhouse, slightly surprisingly to some, by Roi Du Mee, but this may be no bad thing.
Roi Du Mee was one of the 16 horses to be withdrawn from the Grand National at the second declaration stage, but four of the six horses to attempt the double with the BobbyJo in the past decade failed to finish.
But in three of the last five years, one of the horses to finish in the first three at Fairyhouse have filled a similar spot at Aintree, with Snowy Morning, Black Apalachi and Oscar Time the three horses in question.
Given that there is no reason to suggest why Seabass can improve on finishing third in the Grand National last year, preference is for Prince De Beauchene.
His jumping was particularly inspiring in the same way that Oscar Time’s was at Fairyhouse in 2011 and should he glide over the Aintree fences in a similar manner, a finish in the top four is well within his compass.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
