Money comes in for former Grand National fave Prince De Beauchene
Published:Ladbrokes have slashed the ante-post odds of one-time Grand National favourite Prince De Beauchene from 33/1 to 25/1 ahead of the 2014 Aintree showpiece due to a flurry of market support for Willie Mullins’ chaser.
Having been forced to withdraw from both of the last two renewals of steeple chasing’s blue ribband race due to untimely injuries, it had begun to look as if Prince De Beauchene may never line up for the extended 4m3f trip.
However, finally passed fit for this year’s edition, the 11-year-old appears to be striking a chord with punters once more and despite a topsy-turvy campaign over fences it’s not overly difficult to see why.
If Mullins can get his gelding to cut out the mistakes that have cost him in-running this season, then there surely won’t be a better qualified each-way option than this former Bobbyjo Chase winner.
That win, albeit back in 2012, is a certified tick in the box of Mullins’ best hope for a second ever triumph in the race as far as this year’s field goes, as 8/10 most recent winners had previously scored in a Grade 2 chase.
Furthermore, only horses aged between nine and 11 have claimed glory in the last nine years.
In terms of weight, the 10-10 Prince De Beauchene saddles looks to be generous given his previous allocation for the Hennessy, where his handicap mark has been reduced by eight pounds since that Newbury outing in November.
Meanwhile the son of French Glory has a rating of 147 at the left-handed track, where he won on his only appearance at Aintree in ’11, over a trip in excess of 3m over fences.
That official rating fits snugly into the strong trend of recent winners of the world’s greatest steeple chase, where in the last five years 17 of the 20 places went to horses rated 144+.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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