Andy tipped last year's winner at 50/1 and he's on the National trail once again.
Backing Irish-trained runners who have been prepared especially for the world’s greatest race hasn’t turned out to be a bad policy over the years and the one that fits the criteria in this season’s renewal is UCELLO CONTI (best price 25-1).
The selection would have finished a good deal closer to Rule The World last year had he not made a couple of notable errors on the way round, but it was still a fine effort by Gordon Elliot’s charge considering it was only his fourth start for the Co Meath handler since joining him from France. Following a similar path to last year, the son of Martaline once again ran a gallant race in the Thyestes Chase at Gowran on his most recent outing and having run on strongly to finish a creditable fourth in the Becher Chase earlier in the campaign, his preparations appear to have gone to plan.
Likely to be freshened up between now and the big day in two months, the nine-year-old has a similar profile to many previous winners of this race – having run consistently well in many strongly-run, big-field handicaps – and hailing from a yard that knows what it takes to produce a Grand National winner, odds of 25/1 seem fair enough given the list of positives in his direction.
