Steeple Chase

If I were a betting man I would look at the Nicholls horses. He is on fire at the moment and this is the one race that has always eluded him. He'll be going out all guns blazing to put this particular feather in his cap. The Grand National is a Class 1, Grade 3 race over four miles and four furlongs that is open to six year olds and upwards which are allotted a rating of 110 or more by the BHA Head of Handicapping following a review of the horses entered and after taking account of races run up to and including February 14, 2010.

The weights will be revealed February 16 with the maximum allocated weight being 11st 10lb. The first scratchings have a deadline of March 2nd, the second scratchings deadline is March 23rd and the five/six-day confirmation stage will be April 5th with final declarations to be announced at 10.00am, April 8 and this year the race has a £925,000 total prize fund.

The closing date for entries for 2010 was February 2nd and 112 contenders have since been declared with the weights to be announced on February 16th.

Paul Eddison of grand-national.me.uk said "Though 112 entrants is fantastic, it is down on previous years where at a peak we saw over 150 being entered initially. There could be any number of reasons for this including the economic downturn, the rising cost of managing such high class horses or the difficult nature of the race itself."

He went on to say "However, despite the lower number of contenders the overall quality of the horses entered is much higher than in any of the last 11 years as there are actually more horses rated 140 or above among the entries in this year’s race which is a great indicator of the caliber of race that awaits us in April."

Among this years elite are 38 Irish horses and three past winners who are the 2009 100/1 outsider Mon Mome, Comply Or Die who was victorious in 2008 and the 2007 winner Silver Birch. Over 60 different trainers have thrown their hat into the ring with the highest number coming from Willie Mullins who has the largest number in the running with ten including Arbor Supreme, Snowy Morning and Irish Invader.

David Pipe follows with nine entrants including Our Vic, Comply or Die and Seven Is My Number. Nigel Twiston-Davies has seven in contention with Paul Nicholls on five which includes two of the ante-post favourites in the form of Tricky Trickster and Big Fella Thanks.

Excitement surrounds State of Play, the fourth place in 2009, who is going to go straight to the National without another run. The Evan Williams trained 10 year old has exceptionally good prospects, performs best when fresh and according to Williams "Is doing great".

When asked to make some predictions on the stand outs and favourites for this year, Paul Eddison of grand-national.me.uk said "It's very difficult at this stage to have any real idea of who is in contention. Weights won't be announced for another two weeks and they make such a significant difference that it's nearly impossible to assume anything with out them."

He also said "If I were a betting man I would look out for the Nicholls horses as he is the on-fire trainer at the moment and this is the one race that has always eluded him so he will be going out all guns blazing to put this particular feather in his cap."

Ante-post favourites across the various bookmakers have Tricky Trickster as the horse to beat with Black Apalachi, Big Fella Thanks, Possol and Niche Market following very close behind but as we are all aware, anything can happen on the day and if there was such a thing as a dead cert there would be no bookmakers and we would all be rich.