Grand National 2023 tips: Favourites to win, latest odds and our experts' top picks
With the final field for the Randox Grand National set, the true shape of the market has come into view.
All being well, a maximum field of 40 will set off over the famous course at 5.15pm this afternoon, and it's Ain't That A Shame who has come in for strong support from punters on the eve of the race.
Available at 14/1 last night, the Henry de Bromhead-trained nine-year-old is now a general 8/1 shot, supplanting both Crach Rambler and Delta Work in the market.
Long-time favourite Corach Rambler has drifted out to as big as 10/1 with some firms, while Delta Work remains a solid second-favourte at around
At bigger prices, there has been interest in Vanillier for Gavin Cromwell. A Grade 1 winner over hurdles, he's been running mostly over inadequate trips so far this season, presumably to protect his mark, and is now into a general 16/1 shot from 20s.
The Big Breakaway is another that has come in for support and is into as short as 25/1 with some firms having been available at nearly double that this time last week.
Below, Telegraph Sport offers you a top tip for the big race race as well as the horses that should be on your radar in preparation for the 2023 Grand National at Aintree. You can download and print our Grand National sweepstake kit here.
Vanillier, an eight-year-old laid out for the race, can make it a grey day on Merseyside and become the fifth Irish winner in a row by winning the 175th Randox Grand National at Aintree today.
Greys which have won the world’s greatest steeplechase are a select bunch, so far there are only three of them, one a century; The Lamb in 1868 and 1871, Nicolaus Silver in 1961 and Neptune Collonges in 2012 but Vanillier has a lot going for him today and, with a smidgeon of the good fortune which always rides pillion with the winning jockey, he can join the club for trainer Gavin Cromwell, a man who in his previous life as a farrier before he became a Champion Hurdle winning trainer can claim to have shod National winners Silver Birch and Tiger Roll for Gordon Elliott.
Vanillier first came familiar with racegoers this side of the Irish Sea when he stormed to victory in the Albert Bartlett Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2021. He has, admittedly, not quite reached those heights over fences yet and while I am not sure I would be tipping him over the old style fences, he is, nevertheless not the sort of horse who would go and breast one.
But Cromwell has campaigned him almost exclusively over trips shorter than his optimum this season until after the National weights had been published. Then, in his last run, in the Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse he was beaten half a length by Kemboy, a former Irish Gold Cup winner, when 20lb wrong with the winner had it been a handicap. Another two strides and he would have won that day.
He did fall on his previous start but he slipped trying to save himself that day and his trainer was right excusing him. “He’s been trained all year for the race,” said Cromwell yesterday. “He has a lovely weight, he stays, he’s jumping a lot better and if he gets into rhythm and position I’d hope for a big run.”
Sean Flanagan, now one of the senior Irish jump jockeys with a very good rides to falls ratio, is a pilot in all senses of the word; he flew his light plane to Cheltenham in March. If push comes to shove Vanillier will not be lacking in help from the saddle.
The case for Corach Rambler is as clear as day. He’s 10lb well in at the weights after putting up a career-best last time and his jumping is that of a horse who should be well suited to the Aintree fences.
And yet, this remains a race of huge variables and even though Corach Rambler might make the handicapper look silly, his price is just too short.
We'll happily sit there and clap with the rest of the nation if he hacks up by 25 lengths but he won’t be carrying our money; Capodanno will.
With every passing year, the Grand National is becoming more and more suited to horses who offer just that bit more class, something this Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old has in abundance.
A few niggles this season mean he has only been seen once and that was over an inadequate trip of 2m4f on bottomless at Gowran Park in February.
He still acquitted himself fine in the circumstances and you get the feeling his entire campaign has been built around a tilt at Aintree.
A winner at the last two Punchestown Festivals, this is a horse who truly comes alive in the spring and with freshness on his side also it’s easy to see him putting up a big performance.
His defeat of Lifetime Ambition in the Grade 1 at Punchestown last season is close to the best single piece of form in this race and is able to replicate that over this extreme distance he should go close.
A rating of 160 is lofty but he has the ability to handle that mark, and even better it.
Between 1984 and 2009, no Grand National winner carried more that 11st 1lb but since then four horses have carried 11st 5lb or more to victory at Aintree. Capodanno can fall into that category.
Marcus Armytage
- Vanillier
- Our Power
- Le Milos
- The Big Dog
Charlie Brooks
- Le Milos
- Noble Yeats
- Galvin
- Any Second Now
Ed Chamberlain
- Longhouse Poet
- Hill Sixteen
- Ain’t That A Shame
- Lifetime Ambition
Marlborough
- Corach Rambler
- Mr Incredible
- Delta Work
- Vanillier
Last year's winner has put together an excellent campaign this season and did his chances no harm with a solid run in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last time. He wasn't good enough to get close to the winner that day but stayed on powerfully late on to underline his credentials as a leading National contender this year – albeit off a lofty weight of 11st 11lb.
Has shown an aptitude for staying tests this season and ran very well under a big weight when third at the Cheltenham Festival last time. Has got far less on his plate here when it comes to weights and is almost guaranteed to relish the extra distance. One from Willie Mullins' so jockey bookings will be revealing.
Well fancied in many quarters, Our Power has sneaked into the race at the bottom of the weights after the withdrawal of Quick Wave. He's run just twice this season, winning on both occasions, but his entire campaign looks to have been built around the National.
Once tipped as a future star, The Big Breakaway's career has not quite panned out as planned but he turned in a display in the Welsh National at Christmas that suggested he could be up to this kind of test. He was still staying on at the end when runner-up to The Two Amigos at Chepstow over 3m6½f. He'll have an extra three furlongs to play with at Aintree.
Like Red Rum, he is Flat-bred, by a sprinter and ran as a two-year-old while most of his rivals would have been turned out in a field unbroken. Unbeaten in two starts this season, including after the weights came out in February, so is 6lb “well-in”. Swerved Cheltenham, thus comes here fresh, and has a great chance of becoming the first Welsh-trained winner since 1905.
A nine-year-old who has run just 10 times, he registered his first success over fences only last month. But he was fourth in the Leopardstown handicap chase in which former stablemate Minella Times finished runner-up prior to his National victory, and is likely to be the pick of Rachael Blackmore. Has a good weight.
Has won two of his three starts for Dan Skelton and badly needed the run at Kelso on his last outing. Jumps and stays, and is not particularly fussy about the ground. Has a lot going for him.
Last year’s winner will attempt to defend his crown on the back of a strong-finishing fourth in the Gold Cup. Carried 10st 10lb to victory last season and now burdened with 11st 11lb. Enjoyed a relatively clear passage 12 months ago, but will he get the rub of the green two years in a row? As an eight-year-old, he should be at the height of his powers.
Some people will tell you he does not jump well enough but I am not sure that is such a factor any more and he was a bit unlucky to fall at Leopardstown two starts ago when he slipped on landing. He ran a cracker behind Kemboy last time and would have won in another three strides. Has a great chance of adding to the small band of greys who have won the race
Odds correct at time of publication.
Padraig Harrington (golfer): GALVIN
I backed Banbridge who won in the same colours on Thursday and the ground has come right for him.
Dominic West (actor): MISTER COFFEY
I met Mr Coffey last week and fell for him instantly. He is tall, dark and handsome and as he gently nuzzled me, he told me he would win by 10 lengths.
Charlie Swan (former Irish Champion jump jockey): DARASSO
He has a touch of class over two and a half miles and those horses often get four and a half in the National.
Barry Geraghty (winner on Monty’s Pass in 2003): LE MILOS
He jumps very well and looked like he needed the run at Kelso last time out.
Bob Champion (jockey of 1981 winner Aldaniti): GAILLARD DU MESNIL
An improving young horse from a very good outfit.
By Marcus Armytage
As the Randox Grand National has evolved a different type of horses is required to win it – you can forget the flamboyant jumper of yesteryear; they expend too much energy. Jumping the smaller, softer obstacles of the modern Aintree requires something that just gets over them like Tiger Roll or Noble Yeats, the least flamboyant of Sam Waley-Cohern’s many rides round the course.
The winning horse will still have to stay but it can be no coincidence that two novice chasers, therefore potentially unexposed to the handicapper, have won recently. Rule The World had never won a chase while Noble Yeats had been campaigned, for the most part, over distances we now know were way too short for him.
Though not a novice, the pick of the British horses at this stage appears to be the Lucinda Russell-trained Corach Rambler, winner of back-to-back Ultima Chases at Cheltenham. He looks potentially very well treated on 10st 5lbs, a lovely race winning weight. If the race was re-handicapped now he would be carrying 10lbs more. He will stay but his style of racing from off the pace could get him into trouble in a 40 runner National.
Our Power, has a good chance of becoming the first Welsh winner since 1905. He is 6lbs well in after winning the Coral Trophy at Kempton.
William Hill are betting 1-3 on an Irish trained-winner and, at the momentum, the pick of those could be Vanillier. The grey has been campaigned all season by the shrewd Gavin Cromwell for these 10 minutes on Saturday. I am beginning to think he is the horse to beat.
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