I WISH I COULD GET EXCITED, FREDDIE, I AM MAXIMUS FOR PAUL & BLACKMORE THE LEGEND.

The anticipation used to overwhelm all other considerations. The Saturday of the Grand National I used to term my 'holy of holies'. Pull the curtains, take the phone off the hook, pray to a deity I did not believe in that there would no protestors and that no horse would be harmed in pursuit of my annual entertainment high. For over sixty-years I was stupidly in love with the Grand National. Not so much now, though. I wish it were not so, but now when I read about or watch recordings of Grand Nationals of the past, it is like watching a former love of my life and yearning to be together again. That's how it is with me, the sentiment aided and abetted by the knowledge I have to accept that is how it will be for the rest of my life.

What a 'health and safety' National does not, and perhaps never will have again, is a horse similar to Freddie taking part, or a Grittar or a Jay Trump. Freddie, like so many of the horses who either won or were regularly placed in a Grand National, had lives outside of Aintree. Freddie, named after the vet who saved his life as a foal, Freddie Ringwood, began life as a hunter, graduated to point-to-points and then on to hunter chases, winning the 1964 Cheltenham Foxhunters. His first big win under rules was the Mildmay Memorial at Sandown. The same season he was 2nd in the Grand National to the American horse Jay Trump, trained by Fred Winter, a great jockey and a great man for spoiling a romantic Grand National story, twice riding the winner to beat Wyndburgh into second.

The following season Freddie was second to Arkle in the Hennessey and again finished runner-up at Aintree, this time to Anglo, trained by the great spoiler of good tales, Fred Winter. Anglo previously ran in the Grand National under the name Flag of Convenience and was trained by Captain Ryan Price before he lost his licence due to the Hill House affair, of which he was completely innocent. Freddie's third attempt at the Grand National was ruined by the melee at the fence after Bechers, now the Foinavon, as it was for the majority of runners. But that season he had won the Gallaher's Gold Cup at Sandown and two other races. He was a brave, honest horse, as are the majority who will line-up on Saturday. 

I am sure Paul Townend will sleep a lot easier in the run-up to the big race knowing that I endorse his choice of I Am Maximus over Grangeclare West. If Lecky Watson had shown this year a smidgen of the form he had last season, he might have featured in Townend's calculations but as it is, unless Willie Mullins puts his genius on display once more by preparing Nick Rockett to win again off a very poor preparation, I cannot see any other of the Closutton horses winning bar I Am Maximus.

Although already known as an Aintree legend, it will become official on Thursday when Racael Blackmore is inducted into the Aintree Hall of Fame. There will also be an official opening ceremony for the Blackmore Bar, a venue for those who, like me, live an alcohol free life. Any yes, that might explains why I am by nature a miserable sod who laughs occasionally.