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Tuesday 13 February 2018

Grand National – Early Picks


It’s that time of the year again when punters start to ask the question: Who will be the winner of the Grand National? The 2018 Randox Health Grand National features some of the best horses in the world and some stiff tough competition is expected. Some of the Grand National tips that have occurred time and again are that horses aged 8 to 10 have come out winners in recent years and those with 10+ chase starts, have dominated. We also saw that that the average weight for the winner in the last 30 years is 11st 3Ib. With these tips in mind along with some stats, trends and form guides, we bring you our list of the early Grand National picks!

Vicente

Vicente will start the 2018 Grand National as one of the favourites. Though he hasn’t won any race thus far, there are many factors in his favour. Firstly, drawing from our tips, Vicente is nine years old, which is the perfect age of previous Grand National winners. He has extensive experience in chase races and weighs a little below 11st 3Ib as at 26 December 2017. However, Vicente’s biggest advantage is that he has Paul Nicholls as his trainer. In addition to training countless horses that have won many great races, Paul Nicholls has also trained a Grand National winner - Neptune Colognes. This will come in handy for Vicente as he strives to beat his previous best, a second place finish in 2017.

Definitely Red

Definitely Red returns to the Grand National this year hoping for a different and better performance from the one he put out in 2017. Going into the 2017 Grand National, Definitely Red was one of the clear favourites with 1/10 odds. His odds were boosted by his impressive performance in the Grimthorpe Chase that season, but he failed to replicate it. Definitely Red put the disappointment of the Grand National aside for the rest of the season and for the start of this season, recorded six wins in 13 starts. Definitely Red is at the prime age of nine and though we do not know who the jockey will be, he will certainly be one to look out for in this year’s Grand National.

Blaklion

Blaklion is one of those horses that despite putting in impressive performances week in week out sadly do not attract huge followers. Blaklion goes into the Grand National with trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies, who helped him finish fourth in the same race last year. The two will be hoping to go one-step further and finish among the top three. Twiston-Davies and the team behind Blaklion have taken a tough decision to exclude Blaklion from the Cheltenham Gold Cup in order to adequately prepare for the Grand National. Blaklion’s last race before the Grand National will be the Grand National Trial at Haydock to be held later this year. Blaklion will therefore be one of the fresher horses at the start of the Grand National and will be hoping to use that to his advantage.

Cause of Causes


Cause of Causes seems to savour the huge occasions as he performs superbly during the big races in comparison to the ‘smaller’ ones. He goes into the Grand National on the back of remarkable wins at the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase where he jumped Aintree style fences, the 4 mile Cheltenham Novice Chase and the Kim Muir. In his last Grand National appearance in 2015, Cause of Causes finished eighth. However, his two Cheltenham wins thereafter along with his improved performances, makes him one of this year’s Grand National top picks.