tiger roll.

​Am I alone in thinking it ridiculous, and in some way embarrassing, that the conditions for horses to run in the Grand National, as of the present moment, actually precludes Tiger Roll from lining-up on April 4th, if that is, of course, the O’Learys relent on their ‘his chances of running are between slim and none’, and concede that in this instant the public and pundits are right in wanting (or should that be demanding) Tiger Roll be given the opportunity to rewrite racing history books and they are not only wrong but talk and act with complete disregard for not only the integrity of the sport but their responsibility toward providing it with good publicity.
And how can the good men and women of Aintree, along with the B.H.A. draw-up conditions, albeit there are perfectly reasonable good intentions to the conditions, that given Tiger Roll’s now time-honoured preparation for the Grand National, that might, if the weather or injury take control of the situation, prevent a two-time Grand National winner from attempting to create history? Barmy. Stupid. Displaying a complete lack of foresight.
The condition that a horse must have run in a 3-mile chase in the twelve-months leading-up to March 16th and been placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th in such a steeplechase is good policy as it stops an owner running a 2-mile horse just to have a runner. What is stupid, short-sighted and frankly embarrassing, is that they have attached the condition to a two-time winner of the race. Surely there should be a condition that states previous winners of the race have automatic qualification to be entered for handicapping and need not have run in a steeplechase since the previous year’s race.
The handicapper takes note of previous Aintree and Grand National form when drawing-up the weights, yet the people who determine the conditions for the race totally ignore the great exploits of horses with the courage, jumping ability and stamina to win the race. Because it is the Grand National, using a formula I admit to not understanding, Tiger Roll is assessed to be a 4Ib better horse than the Gold Cup winner Native River, who incidentally is also assessed to be 4Ib inferior to Delta Work. Baffling, at least to me. So, if the handicapper believes it fair and reasonable to take Aintree and Grand National form into account, why oh why is this line of reasoning not used when drawing up the conditions for the race? We all want the right horses running in the race. And most of all we want previous winners running in the race.
If any horse presently in training is known outside of the racing public it is Tiger Roll. Come April 4th anyone who won money on him last year will automatically look for his name when they browse their morning paper come the day of the race. If he is not to be found in the runners and riders and they ask ‘why isn’t Tiger Roll running?’ you and me will have to explain that he wasn’t qualified to run this year and then we will have to give the official explanation, which will make the sport a laughing stock (again) on its biggest, most publicised day of the year.
I know how my annoyance and criticism can be countered – what’s the problem? He’ll run in the Cross-Country at the Cheltenham Festival, doubtless win and he will have met the conditions of the race.
But what if, as has happened at Cheltenham in the past, though admittedly when the ground is on the firm side, that the Cross-Country course is waterlogged and the race has to be abandoned. Gordon Elliott will be a gum-tree without a paddle as there does not appear to be a plan B. If only, we will say, and doubtless the O’Learys will think, if they have made us all happy by then by declaring Tiger Roll Grand National-bound, ‘if only we had entered him in the Gold Cup!’ If only!
In fact, as far as we are aware, apart from an entry for the Betfair Bowl at Aintree, there appears no plan at all for Tiger Roll. He’s staying in training next season. Hurrah. But for what purpose? What would be the point in keeping him in training just to win the Cross-Country at Cheltenham for a third or fourth time? They surely can’t be thinking of him as a Gold Cup horse as an eleven-year-old, can they? And he certainly will not receive less weight next year in the Grand National than this year if he doesn’t run until the Moyne Hurdle next season. And if he wins the Betfair Bowl, or just runs second or third, it is conceivable his rating will actually increase. Life should not be this complicated!
Incidentally, on Racing Post ratings Anibale Fly comes out as the highest rated horse in the entries for this year’s race, one mark above Native River. I was intending to list all the horses entered in the race with a higher rating than Tiger Roll but there are just too many of them. Without doing the math, or simply the counting, I would think over a third of those horses entered have a higher Racing Post mark than Tiger Roll. It’s almost as ridiculous as the O’Learys being unwilling to allow one of the great Aintree horses of all time to run and equally as unbelievable as conditions for the race that on paper actually prevent a two-time winner from running.