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Horse racing: Emma Lavelle - Yahoo Sports UK’s columnist: ‘Clouds won’t get beaten’
Top British trainer Emma Lavelle is Jumps racing Ambassador for Bet4Causes and columnist for the Racing Plus newspaper. Here, exclusively for Yahoo Sport UK, she looks ahead to the Grand National and marks your card…
By Emma Lavelle
IT IS the race everyone knows and loves. Sometimes we forget that the Grand National is racing’s shop window. It is the one day where we can throw open the doors to the once-a-year-punter and hopefully have them coming back for more.
Public perception is fundamental to the future of jump racing.
So forgive me if I think the chatter about the entry requirements for the race this week is a lot of stuff and nonsense.
For those who enjoy a bet on the National each year, you may be wondering why there’s no place for 2014 winner Pineau De Re, nor Alverado, who has finished fourth for the last two years.
In simple terms, they are not considered good enough by the handicapper, Phil Smith, who examines their form and that of their peers, and gives them an allotted mark.
Only 40 can run for safety reasons and all 40 at the top of the handicap stand their ground.
Almost 80 of the 126 horses entered for this year’s race have not won a single race between them this season, so it is not an easy task to compile the figures.
The talk has been about a ‘win and you’re in’ system. You can make that argument, although it is not necessarily one that I agree with. There may be a case to be made for the winner of the Becher Chase, which is run over the National fences, receiving a berth.
But should we do the same for winners of a Welsh, Scottish or Irish Grand National? Should we exclude horses under the age of eight who lack experience or those over the age of 12, such as Pineau De Re?
The compressing of the handicap at the top end has encouraged owners of high-rated horses to have a go at this demanding race. This has also penalised the lower-rated horses. Discouraging no-hopers, who are carrying more weight than they should, must be the goal.
Over the past few years, the race has reverted to a proper handicap for proper long-distance staying chasers.
And if you put up such great prize money, you are going to attract the best horses, anyway.
There is nothing wrong with excluding those who have not reached the required handicap cut-off point. If you are not considered good enough, you should not be running. No arguments.
That has to be good for the longer-term future of the race, given that the wider public perception of jump racing is heavily dependent on what happens each year in the Grand National.
What you really want to know, of course, is who will win.
Many Clouds (5.15 Aintree) has the best chance of winning back-to-back Nationals since Red Rum in 1973-74. His preparation has gone smoothly, he’s been trained to the minute and if he gets a clear run, I can’t see him getting beaten.
My each-way tip is The Last Samurai. He looks thrown in on the form of Grimthorpe Chase win at Doncaster.
Many Clouds is in the Lavelle Lucky 15 today, along with Coral Cup runner-up Long House Hall (1.45 Aintree) who can go one better. Racing Pulse (4.20 Aintree) is better than he showed at Cheltenham last time and Automated (6.10 Aintree) looks to be rapidly improving over hurdles.
Headlines for the right reasons
THERE are those in the media who will invariably want to knock the National.
For the sake of a few attention-grabbing headlines or some extra clicks on a story, these faceless suits, who know little about the sport, have the potential to do great damage to an industry that generates almost £4 billion to the British economy each year.
Over the past nine years, on average 152 horses per year have died as a result of horseracing injuries – or 1.1% of the horses in training.
In comparison, around 3,000 horses die each year on UK roads.
Some newspapers, especially, are happy to take the bookmaking dollar, their editors keen to play in the company’s sweepstake.
Yet moments after the National, they will promote sensationalism.
I know for a fact that in one particular national newspaper, the on-line news desk only want to know one thing immediately after the National is run: How many horses died?
What they don’t understand and what they never report is the care these wonderful animals receive. They are treated like kings, housed in luxury barns, fed the equivalent of a banquet every meal and are loved like pets by the stable staff.
Losing a horse is like losing a member of the family. It hurts like hell. But as any farmer will tell you, where there is livestock, there is deadstock.
The Aintree executive, the official handicapper and BHA have done a sterling job to ensure the Grand National is safer than ever, while ensuring that it is still the ultimate staying chase.
My prayer is the race is publicised for all the right reasons.
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