Key events
National protest arrest in Manchester
Merseyside Police have issued a statement to reveal that a 33-year-old woman had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance in connection with potential co-ordinated disruption activities at Aintree.
The woman, from the London area, was arrested in the Greater Manchester area on Saturday morning, police said.
A force spokeswoman said: “Merseyside Police has been working with The Jockey Club and other partners to keep people safe during the Grand National Festival.
“We are aware of some people planning to protest at the event. This has been factored into our plans. We respect the right to peaceful protest and expression of views, but criminal behaviour and disorder will not be tolerated and will be dealt with robustly.”
About 30 animal rights protesters had gathered outside the track by 10am. PA Media
Our racing correspondent will be filing a more detailed report soon but it sounds like the proposed Animal Rising protest hasn’t attracted a lot of support … yet, anyway.
If your pin landed on No 16 in the Grand National, Escaria Ten, you’ll have to close your eyes and stick it in again as the horse is lame and won’t start. That means trainer Gordon Elliott will have just the five runners now!
Hello and welcome to the greatest day of the racing year bar none. It’s the Grand National, the event that transcends the sport. Everyone has their own idea of what is going to win and most people will have a wager on this one day.
Personally, I loved the days before the British Horseracing Authority’s handicappers starting with Phil Smith started fiddling with the weights and we started to get 100-1 winners again as we did when Mon Mome won in 2009 and it became a much more open contest. What is true that the transformation of the National has been a brilliant success and Smith’s pledge when he took over the role as chief handicapper “to attract better-quality horses, make it more competitive and get as many horses as possible into the handicap” has worked and made the race, if anything, even more popular.
Today’s first race at Aintree at 1.45pm with the big race set to go off at 5.15pm. Stay with us here for all the latest news, opinion and best bets as we bring you the 2023 Grand National, the only Thoroughbred contest that actually merits the tag “greatest race in the world”.
Good morning from Aintree
Greg Wood
Grand National day has dawned under a clear blue sky, the racecourse is preparing to welcome 70,000 spectators for the 175th running of the world’s most famous steeplechase, and an assembling group of up to 300 animal rights protesters begs to differ.
It remains to be seen whether the group Animal Rising will succeed in its aim of getting into Aintree shortly before the National’s off-time of 5.15pm BST and preventing the race from going ahead. I suspect that there is more chance that Cape Gentleman will win the National than there is of the race not taking place, and Cape Gentleman has, for practical purposes, no chance at all.
The racecourse and Merseyside police have also been forewarned by a Mail On Sunday investigation two weeks ago that it would be a good idea to strengthen any potential weak spots around the track’s perimeter, in case the demo planned to start at 9.30am is intended to divert attention from activities elsewhere.
But when an event is worth £500m to the sport, betting and the local economy, no one will be taking any chances. This is, after all, the Grand National, the only race that millions of Britons watch all year and one that has a rare appetite for hogging the headlines, whether it is for positive or negative reasons.
The thing about the National is that it is such an exceptionally difficult race to win that the horse which eventually makes it into the winner’s enclosure almost inevitably comes with a decent story attached. A Grand National winner is the ultimate dream of pretty much every owner, trainer and rider in the game, and however much you try to win it, for the lucky few that do there is an inescapable sense that it was as much a case of their numbers coming up than the result of a well-conceived plan.
A rainy Friday has brought a subtle change to the profile of this year’s race, but it is still a ridiculously open event with only a handful of runners that can be (fairly) safely dismissed. A sudden, wild shift of luck can intervene at any stage, as generations of punters have learned.
At the time of writing, Gordon Elliott’s Delta Work is the narrow favourite at 9-1, with Ain’t That A Shame, the mount of fans’ favourite Rachael Blackmore, and Corach Rambler, the only British-trained runner in the top eight in the list, a point further behind on 10-1, but any one of half a dozen runners could set off at the head of the betting later today.
Picks for today’s ITV races are here, a runner-by-runner guide to the big-race field is here, and you can follow all the market moves, results, views and news, from both inside Aintree and on the streets outside, here on the blog as the day unfolds.
