evidence, it may have fallen apart, intense raffles & today used to be my holy day.

​The Top Novice Hurdle, sponsored by Trust-a-Trader, at Aintree yesterday, proved beyond all doubt that the best procedure for starting a horse race is to line-up the horses within whispering distance of the starter. The evidence, my lord, was right there before our very eyes. The jockeys lined-up, the starter whispered ‘now, my sweeties get going ready or not,’ he flicked the switch, the tape went up and the race was off to a fair and just start. No swearing, no complaints.
Compare, my friends, to the start of the Topham.
I rest my case.

You may well be of the opinion that the Mildmay novice Chase – I will not attempt to give it is full title as it the length of this aside – that the race fell apart when Dancing City fell, brought down his stable-mate and brought Handstands to a stand still, and you may not rate Jordans as highly as his connections, but I thought Caldwell Potter was impressive again. At Cheltenham it was his jumping that caught my eye. At Aintree it was his heart. You can add ‘battle’ to his prime attributes of jumping like a bunny and his ability to gallop full-steam-ahead. I love him, and not just because he has proved my judgement worthy. I said from the very start of his chasing career that he was not a 2-miler but a stayer. Whether he is a true Gold Cup horse is open for debate. But if he has a good summer and comes in next autumn a stronger horse and his feet stop giving problems, he might be a King George horse, though I doubt he would have the speed, though the better ground normally found at Kempton on Boxing Day would be right up his street. And Cobden was wrong for a change; Caldwell Potter does have Grade 1 class. He proved that yesterday.
The race may have fallen apart for Jonbon in the Melling, though less so than the Mildmay and if Nicky Henderson has a problem called Constitution Hill, then Willie Mullins has a similar problem with a horse called El Fabiolo. Although the former, I believe, should now go novice chasing, it might do El Fabiolo good, in the short term, to have a spin over hurdles. And with both I would make the running. I also wonder if going 3-miles over fences might help El Fabiolo’s hit or miss jumping style.
As for Jonbon. The King George would be intriguing for him next season, though I cannot believe Nicky Henderson deciding to that route. I would certainly give-up on the 2-mile Champion Chase in favour of the Ryanair next season, especially if Fact To File is given the chance of winning the Gold Cup. I would like to see Jonbon tackle the 3-mile Bowl at Aintree next season. He has his knockers but who would not want to own Jonbon, a horse unbeaten everywhere bar Cheltenham. The facts do not lie. Or is that the camera never lies?

Now, there is a race today that we would like to think will stop the nation. My initial response when the weights for the Aintree National were first announced was that Intense Raffles would likely be the winner. He is reasonably weighted at 10st 10Ibs, jumps well and should almost certainly stay the distance. 
Now, I am much better at sighting the winner of the Aintree National, especially when it was a grander race, than I am at actually winning money at the race. Rule The World was the real sickener. I had the race down to five-horses, with a view to backing four of them. Yes, due to the perfectly reasonable reckoning that horses that have never won a chase do not win around the National fences, I crossed out his name. Seagram was the other non-winner for me. Due on this occasion to work taking longer than anticipated to get finished and given the distance I lived from a betting shop – well, you know the rest.
My reason for stepping away from Intense Raffles is the ground. If you believe he will be equally suited to good ground as he is with soft ground, stay loyal. He may only win once on good ground and today may well be that day. I though will remain with the idea of the miracle of never-has-won-a- national-of-any-sort Nicky Henderson training an Aintree National winner. Hyland to win from Hewick and Bravemansgame. Proper experts try to name the first four home but I find it too exhausting to come up with three from the 34, so I will leave the complication of the fourth one home to everyone else.

This day used to be my ‘holy day’, a day beyond all others. And though I may give the impression my life has been cut in half by the neutering of the race, by removing the romance and sheer derring-do from the race, National Day remains, for me, the best day of the year. It is simply not ‘holy’ in the revered sense anymore. As always, my main hope for the day is that every horse running in the race returns home to its stable. I want that more than visiting the local bookmaker to pick-up whatever small amount I won on the race.