Gordon Elliott
is having a fantastic season yet again and just weeks after his many
Cheltenham Festival winners, he is looking towards the Aintree Grand
National. Elliott will fire many darts at the world’s most famous
steeplechase, but the one that looks his best chance is Tiger Roll.
Just like
Elliott himself, Tiger Roll also had a great Cheltenham Festival,
cruising to success in the Cross Country Chase to warm up nicely for
the National. After a victory in the Triumph Hurdle as a youngster,
and a win in the four-mile novice chase last season, Tiger Roll made
it three Cheltenham Festival victories with his Cross Country win. He
clearly loves the course, but also seems to come to life at this time
of year, something which his trainer will be hoping he can keep up
going into the Aintree meeting.
As an
eight-year-old, the bay gelding is in his prime right now, and is
clearly a well-handicapped horse based on what we saw at Cheltenham.
He hasn’t been moved in the weights for that race, as the Festival
takes place after the cut-off. His victory
in the Cross Country Chase looks even better when you consider
that one of his main Aintree rivals was behind him. That horse was
The Last Samuri, who was backed into favouritism before finishing in
third place, 13 lengths behind Tiger Roll. It was the Elliott trained
Tiger Roll that proved to be the better jumper and stayer that day,
around the quirky course, and based on that evidence there is no
reason to think that Kim Bailey’s horse can turn the tables on his
rival at Aintree.
Another reason
to fancy Tiger Roll is the path that he has taken to the National,
which is similar to another horse of Gordon Elliott’s who will not
make Aintree this year, Cause Of Causes. He was pulled up at
Cheltenham but looking back to last year, he was in a very similar
position to where Tiger Roll was before Cheltenham. Cause Of Causes
was last year’s talking horse in the Cross Country race, and he
went on to win the race. He then went to Aintree where he ran a
brilliant race to finish second
behind One For Arthur, who won the 2017 Grand National.
While Tiger Roll
is strongly fancied in this year’s race, as ever with the Grand
National, the race looks to be wide open. He wasn’t the only horse
to show up well at Cheltenham either; Total Recall, another strong
National fancy also ran a great race at the festival. That may be
surprising to say about a horse that fell at the festival, but he was
travelling very nicely in the Gold Cup, and would have probably
finished third if standing up, form that would give him a huge chance
in the National. The tips
at Timeform show that this race is wide open, with many different
fancies. That is the beauty of the Grand National; there are many
different horses that look interesting from a betting point of view,
and the hardest part of the race is narrowing your selections down.
Alongside
proving themselves to be in good recent form, Tiger Roll and Total
Recall have also proven that they can act on very soft ground,
something that looks likely to be a factor at Aintree based on the
recent rain in the area. With over four miles to negotiate and the
possibility of very soft, or even heavy ground, you will certainly
need to find a horse that will stay the distance in the National.
With previous
wins over four miles, good recent form and signs that the ground will
be no problem, there is a lot going for Tiger Roll in the race this
season. He will have a whole host of challengers trying to beat him,
including Total Recall, who put himself in a great position in the
Cheltenham Gold Cup before falling when making his move. There are
sure to be many more opinions on the race, but Tiger Roll ticks a lot
of boxes and will certainly be a popular choice on the day for
punters.
