About a minute before it started I picked one to watch. I don't bet, but I watched it navigate every fence, having to take evasive action at times. It crossed the line after a good run I'd say, but finished well down the field. Unfortunately the jockey had jumped off at the second fence. I won't be pinning my hopes on Duffle Coat again.
Cheers @PeanutsMolloy got some 12/1 group B with 3.65, and a sixth place with Hills so no damage done.
Thank you for doing this thread yet again.
Cheers @Valiantphil Glad you enjoyed it and no damage done. Already have the blueprint for a humdinger of a new version of the model for 2026. We’ll nail the sucker next year. All the best.
So, on Saturday afternoon I was at my mate’s birthday celebration. We were talking about the GN and who might win. I had £9 in my PP account so I whacked it on Nick Rocket. £4.50 EW returned £117. I know nothing about horses and the only reason I chose Nick Rocket is because my mate’s name is Nick .. lucky or what. Cheers 🍻
Celebre d'Allen has died following his run in the Randox Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, trainers Philip Hobbs and Johnson White said on Tuesday.
The 13-year-old was pulled up in the closing stages of the Grand National and was attended to on the track by veterinary staff after collapsing before being moved to a local livery yard for recuperation. In an update provided on Monday, White had said the horse was "going the right way".
However, on Tuesday the trainers issued a statement on X, which said: "We’re heartbroken to share that Celebre D’Allen has passed away. He received the very best treatment by the veterinary teams and was improving. However, he deteriorated significantly last night and could not be saved. He was a wonderful horse and we will all miss him greatly."
Very sad. If Micheal Nolan's ten ban appeared lenient before Celebre d'Allen's death then it will seem even more so now and does nothing to help jump racing. A 13 year old that had given everything and was going backwards really should have been pulled up immediately - it was leading coming to the second last but a dozen horses passed it a matter of 20 yards after jumping the fence and yet he still made it go and jump the last. Shameful but I really do hope him and others, including the BHA, learn from that.
That'll be the knee-jerk, easy excuse, followed by stupid ban on 13+ year olds to appease the baying morons. Age had nothing to do with it - Celebre was patently not a 4 miler. He loved those fences, so raced exuberantly, but he'd not got home in a Becher Chase a mile shorter than the GN. IMO, it's entirely down to connections being greedy for their day out and entering a horse they knew, or damn well should have known, would need to be ridden very conservatively to have a chance of completing and the jockey for being a prize wanker.
That'll be the knee-jerk, easy excuse, followed by stupid ban on 13+ year olds to appease the baying morons. Age had nothing to do with it - Celebre was patently not a 4 miler. He loved those fences, so raced exuberantly, but he'd not got home in a Becher Chase a mile shorter than the GN. IMO, it's entirely down to connections being greedy for their day out and entering a horse they knew, or damn well should have known, would need to be ridden very conservatively to have a chance of completing and the jockey for being a prize wanker.
But in your own post race analysis you seemed to say that you don’t expect anything older than 8 to win it moving forwards so surely five years old than that is too elderly now it’s a quicker, classier race?
the days of an elderly plodder being competitive ar long gone are they not?
That'll be the knee-jerk, easy excuse, followed by stupid ban on 13+ year olds to appease the baying morons. Age had nothing to do with it - Celebre was patently not a 4 miler. He loved those fences, so raced exuberantly, but he'd not got home in a Becher Chase a mile shorter than the GN. IMO, it's entirely down to connections being greedy for their day out and entering a horse they knew, or damn well should have known, would need to be ridden very conservatively to have a chance of completing and the jockey for being a prize wanker.
But in your own post race analysis you seemed to say that you don’t expect anything older than 8 to win it moving forwards so surely five years old than that is too elderly now it’s a quicker, classier race?
the days of an elderly plodder being competitive ar long gone are they not?
The advantage of youth isn’t the same as saying it’s impossible for an older horse to win. It’s not that long ago (2016) that a 13yo (Vic’s Canvas) was extremely unlucky not to win it. And another (Bless The Wings) came 3rd in 2018, having raced only 12 days earlier in the Irish GN. Vic was prominent in my team, not just because he’d near-missed in a Becher and in the Bet365 (I,e. he got an extended trip) but, importantly, he was in only his 2nd season chasing - a late convert from hurdling. And that’s why 8 year olds have the advantage - yes they are physiologically progressive but also because, typically as 2nd season chasers, they’re more likely to have something in hand handicap-wise. Chasers lose their speed, not their stamina as they get older. Celebre patently was always short of stamina and should never have entered and certainly not ridden as he was. Older horses that do get a trip shouldn’t be denied their chance to run just because the authorities want to make an easy excuse. The fault lies with his connections, the jockey and “The Panel” that barred Mr Incredible and apparently has barred others previously, who should have looked at Celebre’s record and said no, you can’t run him, not because he’s 13 but because he patently doesn’t have the stamina.
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got some 12/1 group B with 3.65, and a sixth place with Hills so no damage done.
Glad you enjoyed it and no damage done.
Already have the blueprint for a humdinger of a new version of the model for 2026. We’ll nail the sucker next year.
All the best.
Very sad and bad news this morning.
Celebre d'Allen has died following his run in the Randox Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, trainers Philip Hobbs and Johnson White said on Tuesday.
The 13-year-old was pulled up in the closing stages of the Grand National and was attended to on the track by veterinary staff after collapsing before being moved to a local livery yard for recuperation. In an update provided on Monday, White had said the horse was "going the right way".
However, on Tuesday the trainers issued a statement on X, which said: "We’re heartbroken to share that Celebre D’Allen has passed away. He received the very best treatment by the veterinary teams and was improving. However, he deteriorated significantly last night and could not be saved. He was a wonderful horse and we will all miss him greatly."
RIP Celebre d'Allen
Age had nothing to do with it - Celebre was patently not a 4 miler.
He loved those fences, so raced exuberantly, but he'd not got home in a Becher Chase a mile shorter than the GN.
IMO, it's entirely down to connections being greedy for their day out and entering a horse they knew, or damn well should have known, would need to be ridden very conservatively to have a chance of completing and the jockey for being a prize wanker.
the days of an elderly plodder being competitive ar long gone are they not?
And another (Bless The Wings) came 3rd in 2018, having raced only 12 days earlier in the Irish GN.
Vic was prominent in my team, not just because he’d near-missed in a Becher and in the Bet365 (I,e. he got an extended trip) but, importantly, he was in only his 2nd season chasing - a late convert from hurdling.
And that’s why 8 year olds have the advantage - yes they are physiologically progressive but also because, typically as 2nd season chasers, they’re more likely to have something in hand handicap-wise.
Chasers lose their speed, not their stamina as they get older. Celebre patently was always short of stamina and should never have entered and certainly not ridden as he was.
Older horses that do get a trip shouldn’t be denied their chance to run just because the authorities want to make an easy excuse.
The fault lies with his connections, the jockey and “The Panel” that barred Mr Incredible and apparently has barred others previously, who should have looked at Celebre’s record and said no, you can’t run him, not because he’s 13 but because he patently doesn’t have the stamina.