The Grand National faces plenty of challenges and the participation of Monbeg Genius needn’t be one of them

10 months ago 69

NO sport does slap-up lunches quite like racing, and they don’t come much more lavish than the Grand National weights feast.

I mean, where else are you going to get braised lamb neck pithivier (I Googled it, it’s a posh pie) with lamb shoulder and caper bon bons?

The weights for the 2024 Grand National were unveiled this week[/caption]

The event used to get pretty tasty away from the dinner table, too, when the old BHA handicapper, Phil Smith, ruled the roost.

He would channel his inner Claudio ‘The Tinkerman’ Ranieri each February when playing around with the weights, getting firmly under the skin of the Irish in particular.

He loved playing the pantomime villain and creating a bit of drama — but his straight-laced successor Martin Greenwood is more Boycott than Bazball when it comes to handicapping the ‘Nash’. Sad times.

To be honest, it’s not like we are short on talking points in the build-up to the big’un.

In fact, I’d argue this is one of the most important renewals of the Nash in it’s 184-year history.

Back in October, Aintree announced several major changes, including a reduction in the field size from 40 to 34, a shortened run to the first fence and the introduction of a standing start.

The alterations are the most significant since 2013 when the old timber fences were ripped out and replaced with smaller, more forgiving plastic ones.

Given all the chopping and changing over the years, many feel the race has lost a bit of its magic — I know where they are coming from.

Of course, the changes have been made with the best interests of the race and the sport at heart, with the safety and wellbeing of the horses paramount in this day and age.

But have we now backed ourselves into a corner? Fatalities, sadly, will keep happening in the race, so where do we go from here?

I fear it will only take one ‘bad’ National to set off a chain of events that could be terminal for jumps racing as a whole — so it’s vital we have an incident-free few years to give ourselves some breathing room.

And if you thought the Irish domination at Cheltenham was bad look at the Aintree entries. If the top 34 in the National were declared right now, there would be just SEVEN runners from Britain. Let that sink in.

Short of getting a Royal Navy warship to blow Irish ferries out of the water before they reach the Mersey, there ain’t much we can do about it.

That doesn’t mean we should shrug our shoulders, somebody in power with a bigger brain and bigger pay packet than me needs to come up with a plan sharpish.

Some say Ireland’s supremacy is cyclical, but it’s been a good decade and there is still no sign of the wheel of fortune turning back in our favour.

Perhaps the hottest Aintree topic of the lot is the potential participation of the well-fancied Monbeg Genius, owned by bra tycoon Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman.

The National Crime Agency is probing claims of fraud and bribery connected to the supply to the government of allegedly unusable Covid PPE worth £200 million.

The couple, who deny wrongdoing, have had £75 million in assets frozen including their Isle of Man home and Coutts bank accounts.

But their horse, who is trained by the legendary Jonjo O’Neill, is allowed to run in the National, the BHA have said.

They’ve not been convicted of a crime, but it’s still a PR disaster waiting to happen for a race which could really do without more negative press.

The thought of big Monbeg striding clear round the Elbow really is enough to make you feel queasy — or maybe it’s those lamb bon bons.