Grand National 2023 tips for Saturday's big race

talkSPORT

14 April 2023

Grand National 2023 tips for Saturday's big race

Renowned Horse Racing Tipster and Journalist Ed Quigley, aka ‘Longshot Ted’ offers up his best bets for the biggest race of the Grand National

The biggest race of the year is here as the Grand National takes place at Aintree on Saturday. Last year’s winner Noble Yeats will be aiming to follow up off a 19lb higher mark – it looks a tall order on the face of it but is sure to be popular with each-way backers.

Ed Quigley’s 4 For The Grand National:

GALVIN – 20/1 at Ladbrokes
LE MILOS – 14/1 at bet365
THE BIG BREAKAWAY – 40/1 at William Hill
OUR POWER – 22/1 at Unibet

My main selection to win the Grand National will be the Gordon Elliott-trained GALVIN. A horse with a lot of class, he beat subsequent Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard last season and ended up fourth behind that rival in the Cheltenham Gold Cup itself. He was a winner at Punchestown back in October and had a lovely prep for this race when finishing runner-up behind stable mate Delta Work in the Cross Country at the Cheltenham Festival. He has a win on his CV over 3m6f, so he has assured stamina in the locker. He jumps, he stays, and has a touch of class – the 9-year-old looks to have great each-way claims in what could be jockey Davy Russell’s goodbye act.

LE MILOS represents the Harry and Dan Skelton combination, and despite a few people being disappointed with his defeat last time out, I was actually very pleased with his run at Kelso last month, which was very much being used as a springboard for this assignment. He emptied and idled in the closing stages, but Dan Skelton warned that the 8-year-old would be using that assignment very much as a tune-up effort, and that would see him spot-on for the Aintree showpiece event. That run should have brought him on a fair bit and enabled him to get back in the same form which saw him land the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury last November. I like his chances here and can see him running into the places at least, for a horse who shapes as though he will stay all day, is versatile in regards to underfoot requirements, and hails from a yard in fine fettle. Skelton said that his preparation ‘couldn’t have gone any better’, and can get in the shake-up here.

I’m going for a real enigma as my third pick. THE BIG BREAKAWAY blows hot and cold, and we have seen plenty of evidence of that this season. He ran deplorably at the Cheltenham Festival last time out, but previously to that had been in good form, demonstrated by his second-place finish in the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow. That was his biggest-ever test of stamina and he ran a fantastic race under a huge weight, trying to concede the best part of two-stone to the winner. The blinkers are applied for the first time, and if they have the desired effect, he could take to this task. Comes with risks attached, but his price reflects that, and he is far from a forlorn hope on a going day.

Toward the foot of the weights, I am not going to rule out a big run from the Sam Twiston-Davies and Sam Thomas combination. OUR POWER only has 10st 2lb on his back, and arrives here in scintillating form, looking to make it three wins on the bounce. He landed a valuable prize at Kempton last time out and shapes as though he will stay. He looks like an improved animal this season, is a sound jumper, and could be one of the better-handicapped horses in the field. Our Power will be going into my portfolio from each-way purpose!

It can be a bit of a lottery, but enjoy it, good luck!

Don’t forget that Ed will be back next week, reviewing all the Aintree action, and looking ahead to Cheltenham’s April meeting starting on Wednesday.

Remember to gamble responsibly

A responsible gambler is someone who:

Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
Never chase their losses
Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed

For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.