Grand National five to watch: #4 Across The Bay

A wind operation certainly had a positive impact for Across The Bay on his last start over hurdles and he may well be the best each-way bet of all of the Grand National entrants at 33/1.

This victory came in a Grade Two outing at Haydock in February when making all and being a front runner is no bad thing in the Grand National to reduce the chances of encountering trouble in running.

Interesting is that earlier in the season Across The Bay was running creditably in his chase starts off a mark of 153, he has since been dropped 3lb for Aintree and could benefit further from the aforementioned operation.

The majority of his races suggest he should see out all of the Grand National, as he has been staying on well in races over 3m, while trainer Donald McCain has previously allowed him to contest both the Irish and Welsh Nationals.

Meanwhile, looking at the most consistent trends among former Grand National winners, Across The Bay fits more of them than not.

Among them is that he already has a victory under his belt in a race of 3m1f or further, he is a winner of a race that has featured more than 14 runners so has big-field experience and he has fallen over no more than twice throughout his career.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that he was an easy winner over Cappa Bleu back in November at Haydock and even though he is re-opposing at Aintree off 5lb worse terms, he should not be 33/1 when Cappa Bleu 10/1.

One final tick in his box is that he has solid course experience with three previous visits to Aintree and on each occasion he finished among the each-way money.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.