Grand National Tips: Looks West For The Winner

The biggest race of the year is upon us, get ready for the Grand National at Aintree! Billy Grimshaw has been eyeing up the race for months and gives us a comprehensive preview here, with his idea of the winner and predicted 1-2-3-4 included...

There really is nothing like Grand National day and with the weather gods smiling down on Liverpool this week, Saturday's big race should be some spectacle as the world stops to watch Aintree. Some complain that the race is not what it was, but as a fan desperately clinging on to my twenties I do not remember the classics of old when the fences were more perilous and the race more scattered with danger than today's iteration, and I for one quite like the 2025 version of the Grand National. There is nothing worse in racing than falls and for the race and indeed the sport to survive, it needed to modernise. Modernise it has and although the race now looks set to go to a very different profile of horse compared to some winners of yesteryear, it is still the most enthralling puzzle to attempt to crack.

Truth be told, the Grand National is now much more like any other handicap chase in Britain and with that being said I am more than happy to focus my attention on one near the top of the weights as my main selection for Aintree glory. I think GRANGECLARE WEST will win the 2025 Grand National for that man again, Willie Mullins. I actually think Mullins has a big shot of making history as you'll see in my predicted 1-2-3-4, but more on that later. Regular readers here (hi again, Mum) will know I have been sweet on another Closutton raider in Meetingofthwaters for the race for some time and I still expect him to be in the mix up watching how well he travelled in the race last year, crucially on softer ground, before just not seeing out the distance. A year older and wiser I can see him looking the winner as the final furlongs approach, but hot on his heels expect to see a battalion of his stablemates.

It is folly of anyone to be confidently ruling out last year's winner and current favourite I Am Maximus, with JP's contender absolutely bolting in last season and with Paul Townend choosing him as the best of Willie's runners. Townend is riding on a different level to all others this Aintree in particular, indeed he has been for some time, and although top weight will make things more difficult for I Am Maximus along with a less ideal prep compared to last year, he looks fairly certain to be in the frame to my eye. If the ground were softer he'd probably be my win only pick, but with it almost certain to be good by 4pm on Saturday I really think Grangeclare West will have his day in the sun and outstay them all up the iconic Aintree straight.

This is a horse the team at home thought was in the same league as Fact To File when both were novice chasers, but a fragility emerged in Grangeclare West and as such his career has never quite taken off. Nevertheless, connections have always been steadfast in insisting he wants good ground, which he'll get here, and that he is still a top, top class horse. You need to be Grade One standard to win the Grand National these days and I'm confident he is, with some of that novice chase form but mainly his brilliant second when splitting Galopin Des Champs and Fact To File as my evidence.

Brian Hayes takes the ride which is no negative, and with hold up horses excelling in this race in recent times I'm hopeful for a patient ride and a late challenge as we saw at Leopardstown when staying on past Fact To File what a potent finishing kick he can still have after a gruelling race. There is so much in his favour and with his fragility, one suspects this is his one and only shot so the team at Closutton will have him as primed as anything they've sent out to run to his best. It's never certain a horse will take to the test of the fences, but if he does he rates my idea of the winner.

Now, onto my 1-2-3-4. It would be impossible to comment on every horse I see in the field having place chances, with Stumptown, Percival Legallois and Vanillier an immense team sent over by Gavin Cromwell, Iroko being saved all year for this big day and of course the good ground loving Hewick in with more than a squeak. That's not even mentioning the raft of outsiders I fancy to run big races - but outside of the trio of Mullins horses I've mentioned in Grangeclare West, Meetingofthewaters and I Am Maximus, I also fancy Minella Cocooner could run an absolute stormer given the ground has come right for him and he stays all day.

I'm sure many reading this only like to bet one horse in the National, while others will take a more scattergun approaching  to betting on the iconic race in the hope of scooping some profit, but if you are a fan of specials in the race I could put no one off a token fiver backing any specials you see for Mullins to train the first four home, or even backing exotics of this Closutton quartet. It's the Grand National, so nothing would come as a surprise, but this really is Willie's world and we're all living in it so don't be surprised to see him scoop all the gold and make history once more. He again dominated on Day Two and looks set to make the entire Festival his playground.