9 Days Until The National!

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Elf On A Shelf

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We had a load of press in today for One For Arthur's bid to win another National for Scotland. With a little over a week to go everyone is getting rather excited. Luckily the majority of our horses coped with the mass convergence of people on the gallop today very well. If you do catch any of the video's I am blazing the trail on Sky Khan as he could be trusted to get to the top with no bother and give everyone else a horse to keep following.

So who will you be backing in the race itself, do you have any specific method of picking your winner or do you just pluck a name out of a hat?
 
Good luck with One For Arthur. I'm going with any from the home crowd of Nicholl's horses. Wonderful Charm is a lovely horse.. he'd be my pick.
Usually I just pick a random number!!

Just willing all home safely.
 
Cause of Causes for me. I haven't looked at the weather but if it stays dry I just hope they water well and slow everything down for safeties sake. Looking through the card I see there is a 15 year old running in the Foxhunter, that is a fair age for a racehorse.
 
I really hope the Last Samurai doesn't win, after the McCains loss.
The national really doesn't do anything for me now it is just another long distance handicap, albeit with exceptional prize money. I like the Thursday at Aintree best.
 
EKW said:
We had a load of press in today for One For Arthur's bid to win another National for Scotland. With a little over a week to go everyone is getting rather excited. Luckily the majority of our horses coped with the mass convergence of people on the gallop today very well. If you do catch any of the video's I am blazing the trail on Sky Khan as he could be trusted to get to the top with no bother and give everyone else a horse to keep following.

So who will you be backing in the race itself, do you have any specific method of picking your winner or do you just pluck a name out of a hat?
Click to expand...

As long as they all come back safe and sound I don't care who wins.
 
The Best of Luck EKW!!

I have a strange relationship with all the Nationals; they intrigue me and I'm compelled to watch but I couldn't ever own a runner. I'd never live with myself if grief struck.

Thinking about TYSSANDI's comment above, I suspect that the expression 'Safe and sound' was struck simply for horses which raced, because that's all that we asks for.

Alec.
 
Mine are all out of a hat, this year I'm going with Benbens, Sambremont, Cocktails At Dawn and More Of That. So I'm doing my bit for horse welfare by backing those who are likely to be pulled up. Although More Of That is 20-1 if he can stay the distance. I haven't backed a winner since Highland Wedding!

On the subject of welfare; nobody likes to see a tearful lass making her way back to the lorry with an empty bridle, but there are far worse ways for these magnificent beasts to end their days. Not all of them are lucky enough to end up with owners like the Sparkle Sisters, when their racing days are over.
 
Saturday will be fifty years to the day that Foinavon won at 100-1, wonder if history will repeat itself?
 
Ill be glued to the tv for all 3 days, absolutely love NH racing and the big spring festivals are my favourite time of year. In almost 50 years of watching I have never had a bet on a single race, it spoils it for me. I love it for its own sake and whilst I do have my favourites and like to try and find the winner, I just cant bring myself to put money on their backs :) I echo the poster above who said, that whilst noone likes to see fatalities on the race course, there are much worse fates that can befall any horse, not just the ex racers. Good luck EKW, and to anyone else with any connection to the race, hope everyone has a safe passage and the best horse wins
 
Oh good luck EKW - hope he runs well and comes home safe and sound!

I'm on The Last Samurai, Blaklion and Saphir du Rheu - but my highlight of the festival are the stayers hurdle ( come on Cole Harden) and the Aintree Bowl....although will I be able to watch Cue Card without hiding behind the sofa? Unlikely....
 
I usually pick two horses. One i always a grey...just because. The other always has a very quirky name with horrible odds. I picked a grey with a awful name once who won! Lol
 
MyBoyChe said:
Ill be glued to the tv for all 3 days, absolutely love NH racing and the big spring festivals are my favourite time of year. In almost 50 years of watching I have never had a bet on a single race, it spoils it for me. I love it for its own sake and whilst I do have my favourites and like to try and find the winner, I just cant bring myself to put money on their backs :) I echo the poster above who said, that whilst noone likes to see fatalities on the race course, there are much worse fates that can befall any horse, not just the ex racers. Good luck EKW, and to anyone else with any connection to the race, hope everyone has a safe passage and the best horse wins
Click to expand...

That is my relationship with racing too. I love it, all the drama, the highs and lows, all life is played out on the racecourse with happy stories and sad stories, but at least in every race there are three lots of connections more or less happy with the outcome.
 
Getting to the party a bit late here but I backed One For Arthur back in February at 25/1 ante-post. OH and I both felt after his last run that he was as strong a candidate for the GN as we've seen in a long time (for me, I've not been this confident about a horse's ability to cope with the distance and the fences since Neptune Collonges in 2012).

EKW - I was at the charity open day at Lucinda's back in 2015 (wrote a blog post about it, incidentally), it was possibly a post of yours on here that triggered us going! We bumped into Lucinda and Scu at Musselburgh as we were heading out with all our gear back at the Festival trial meeting in Feb and had a brief chat with them about Arthur (as well as Scu's attempts at harness racing at Tir Prince). Keeping everything crossed that he gets round there alright and deep down I just hope he can win.

I've been to Aintree before but never to the GN meeting but this year is OH's and my first year bookying there. We bought a pitch back last summer and we'll be there for Ladies Day and on Saturday - if anyone fancies a flutter then come find us (Smart Bookmakers). We're the little independent duo trying to make it pay amongst all the big guns!
 
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