Nicky Richards has continued the high standards established by his father and has remained at the training base of Greystoke Castle in Cumbria throughout his career. This season has proved a rollercoaster time for the now veteran handler, having seen his Monet’s Garden win a third Old Roan Chase in sensational fashion at Aintree’s November meeting, before learning that horse was critically ill and fighting for his life, suffering from a hoof infection. After weeks of racing fans hoping and praying, Monet’s Garden survived and returned home, but not before another Richards’ stalwart Money Trix suffered a fatal fall in Grade 1 company in Ireland.

As a young horse Skippers Brig was thought of as potentially top class but he has had his training problems over the years and been relatively lightly raced as a consequence and those looking to place Grand National bets will no doubt take this into account. He remains a horse of serious ability though, as he proved when running third to Poquelin in the 2009 Boylesports Gold Cup at Cheltenham, and when switching to hurdles last month to show a clean pair of heels to his rivals in a qualifier for the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle at Haydock.

At Kelso earlier this month all eyes were on Donald McCain’s Ballabriggs in the Premier Chase, a leading contender for the forthcoming Grand National, but punters reckoned without Skippers Brig who put up a terrific performance to reel-in the horse seeking a six-timer and win by a length-and-three-quarters.

8lbs better in with the runner up at Aintree, it seems bizarre that Ballabriggs is a best priced 14/1 chance, whist his conqueror Skippers Brig can be freely backed at 40/1. Judge for yourself where the value lies.

Although all eyes were understandably focusing on the new champion Long Run getting the better of a tremendous tussle with former champions Denman and Kauto Star, Johnson’s Tidal Bay had become tailed off, but then (as is his wont), suddenly decided he fancied the job and came home strongly to finish with a flourish into sixth position. It is no secret that the 10-year-old is a very quirky performer but he is also endowed with bags of talent and his County Durham-based handler is beginning to warm to the idea that Aintree and the challenge of the John Smith’s Grand National might just be the challenge his horse is looking for. He may be something of an outsider in the Grand National betting, but he could have what it takes.

Johnson reasons that the longer trip of the Aintree marathon could well suit Tidal Bay, a horse who tends to get behind in his races before finishing with a head of steam, much as he did in November when coming from out of the clouds to run the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander to a length in the Grade 1 Betfair Chase. Those looking for Aintree Grand National tipsshould bear this in mind. The Graham Wylie-owned gelding is also reckoned to be a horse who thrives on new challenges, and the former Arkle Chase and Cleeve Hurdle winner might just fancy the job on April 9.

Despite showing that he still possesses bags of ability with his Cheltenham effort, bookmakers have left the son of Flemensfirth at 50/1 behind the general ante-post market leader The Midnight Club (12/1), representing the in-form Willie Mullins stable.

Jonjo O’Neill’s eleven-year-old has been campaigned over hurdles this season and his latest run at Cheltenham suggested he was reaching his peak at the ideal time. A P McCoy settled his mount off the pace and hunted him around in mid-division, before he stayed on well to finish in tenth place to be beaten a shade over twenty lengths. This was a step-up on his previous run at Newbury some three weeks earlier and it will surely have added to the confidence levels that his connections will already be boasting. Anyone with a Grand National free bet to place may want to seriously consider putting it on Don’t Push It.

That run will have put the edge on the Grand National top weight and he will now go to Liverpool with strong claims of retaining his crown. His experience of not only the unique National fences, but also the rip roaring atmosphere and nerve racking parade, will be a huge bonus on the day of the race and with McCoy on his back he will not be short of assistance from the saddle. The Aintree Grand National betting suggests he has every chance of doing well.

With McCoy in the plate there is sure to be plenty of support from the once-a-year punters and the advice is that now is the best time to side with the JP McManus owned gelding.

The subject of much media interest at Aintree in 2010 when partnered by Nina Carberry in the ‘world’s greatest steeplechase’, Character Building came home in seventh place behind Don’t Push It having looked for all the world as if his long sustained run from the Canal Turn would carry him into a place. In the end he failed only narrowly to make the frame finishing in a bunch finish for fifth. That effort certainly encouraged connections that the galloping grey might one day do even better in the marathon event and Aintree has been the sole target for the 11-year-old since his fine effort last season. The best Grand National odds suggest he has a chance of making the grade this time around.

Until his Doncaster run at the weekend the jury was still out as to whether or not Quinn’s Accordion gelding was in good enough form to be taken seriously as a candidate for honours once again, but there was enough in his third-place finish in a race run at a lightning gallop, (the winner clocked more than 16 seconds below standard time on a day when all the other races were above the standard), to suggest that Character Building might yet be a player when he reaches his peak on the second Saturday in April.

He remains as big as 50/1 with some firms, although Skybet appear more impressed by most by his Town Moor effort and are taking no chances in making Character Building just a 28/1 shot in their book.

A significant number of trainers now choose to restrict their Grand National contenders to races over hurdles until two months before the big event itself when the official weights are published, after which they switch to fences knowing the official mark of their horse cannot be retrospectively adjusted and anyone looking to place a horse racing bet should bear this in mind.

Gordon Elliott knows exactly what is needed to win the Aintree spectacular having produced the former Paul Nicholls-trained Silver Birch to race to glory in 2007 at the odds of 33/1. Last year he had a leading fancy in the shape of Backstage and the nine-year-old was going nicely behind the leaders when a loose horse hampered him and he unseated his rider at the 20th fence. Connections will be hoping for better luck this time and have decided to prepare their charge by sending him point-to-pointing rather than racing under rules.

Backstage reappeared in mid-February after a near seven-month break to win a three-mile point-to-point at Kirkistown in his native Ireland, and his handler has confirmed that he will have another such outing at the weekend, a run that should bring him ever closer to peak condition ahead of the big race on April 9.

A 25/1 chance for last year’s race, Backstage is a best priced 18/1 shot in the ante-post market for this year’s renewal, and it is highly likely that those odds will be clipped again if he successfully comes through his latest prep race.

The smart Alan King-trained horse has put in a couple of tidy runs, with a promising second place in the Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock on Saturday following a good fifth last month, and be entered in the Festival Handicap Chase rather than the World Hurdle as a result.

The eight-year-old was horse betting favourite for the race last year but fell at the second-last fence when traveling strongly and the chances of an improvement look good. The entry decision looks sound, as shrewd judges believe that both Big Bucks and Grand Crus would have the beating of him in the World Hurdle whilst the Chase offers much weaker company.

In other notable Cheltenham news, Berties Dream has been withdrawn from the RSA Chase by trainer Paul Gilligan. The eight-year-old won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at the event last year but has not won a race since. The horse still holds an entry in the World Hurdle.

Meanwhile, the Paul Nicholls-trained Tataniano is looking unlikely to be ready to run in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The horse is the third string for the race from the Ditcheat yard, behind Master Minded and Woolcombe Folly, but they had hoped to have him ready in time.

The alternative races for the horse will be at Aintree or Punchestown and ante-post punters should be alerted by the news.

Also allotted top weight of 11st 12lbs is David Pipe’s classy Madison Du Berlais in a race where 17 horses have stood their ground at the five-day stage and which, due to the spate of abandonments in recent weeks, has added significance as a genuine Grand National trial.

Silver By Nature is set to run off a 6lbs higher mark than when running away to a 15-length victory last year, but that is still a good way lower than recent marks that have seen the grey struggle to get competitive in subsequent outings, although he was far from disgraced when finishing seventh to Jonjo O’Neill’s Synchronised in the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow, a race in which he had finished runner-up in 2009 to Dream Alliance.

A thorough stayer who relishes plenty of cut in the ground, the current ‘heavy’ ground description will be music to the ears of the gelding’s Scotland-based trainer, who could give the green light to a bid for the big one at Aintree if her charge puts up a good show on Saturday. Silver By Nature is currently a best priced 40/1 shot in the Grand National betting odds.

Other possible Haydock runners holding Aintree entries include likely favourite for Saturday’s race West End Rocker, who goes to Haydock on a hat-trick having followed up his win at Newbury in December with a fine effort to land the Grade 3 Classic Chase at Warwick last month. Alan King’s nine-year-old can be backed at around 25/1 for the Aintree spectacular.

Surface To Air has been off the radar since his Uttoxeter victory, having suffered recurrent bouts of tendon trouble. Now, after two-and-a-half years off the track, his Lincolnshire-based handler believes he is back to something approaching full fitness and is looking forward to campaigning the 10-year-old in a series of staying chases, beginning with the Aintree marathon. Although the Grand National odds suggest he won’t make an immediate impact.

Having failed to win in any of his 10 career starts on the Flat, things started to look up when the Samraan gelding switched codes, his first outing over timber resulted in him finishing a good third to none other than the mighty Denman in a novice hurdle at Wincanton more than five years ago. He broke his duck two starts later when winning at Huntingdon, before losing his way over hurdles and being switched to fences.

The move to larger obstacles brought about an almost immediate improvement when Surface To Air failed by only a neck to when on his fencing bow at Market Rasen, after which he rattled off an impressive hat-trick in staying chases at Sedgefield, Stratford, and then his high profile success in the Summer National, where he defeated Out The Black by 13-lengths off a mark of 132. The handicapper raised Bealby’s stable star 15lbs for that win, but unfortunately he couldn’t be tested off his new mark due to the tendon injury.

Surface To Air will be Bealby’s first ever runner in the Grand National (if he gets into the race), and given decent ground the 66/1 shot might run better than his ante-post odds suggest.

Way back in 1982 Grittar became the first hunter chaser of the modern era to win the Grand National when partnered by 48-year-old amateur rider Dick Saunders to a famous Aintree success. This year Trust Fund, a very smart hunter chaser himself, may attempt to be the first this millennium to repeat the feat, writes Elliot Slater.

Many Grand National Betting punters fail to take seriously the prospects of a hunter chaser winning the world’s greatest steeplechase, but when you get a very high class hunter chaser, they can be well worth a place in the line-up. Richard Barber’s Trust Fund has little to prove having won the Fox Hunters’ Trophy at Aintree last year, jumping brilliantly before holding on gamely to outpoint course specialist Christie Beamish by four lengths, under Tom Greenall.

Trust Fund, a 12-year-old, has run well throughout his career over distances beyond four miles, jumps very soundly and prefers a decent surface; he would be an unlikely starter in the case of very soft ground. Having beaten 19 rivals at Chepstow prior to his Aintree victory where 29 others were left toiling in his wake, Trust Fund then went to Cheltenham where he justified odds-on with a never-say-die effort to win on the nod from former classy staying chaser Take The Stand.

Not seen out yet this term, Trust Fund is a horse who can run very well after an extended break and seems to get on particularly well with Tom Greenall, whose father Lord Daresbury owns the near veteran, who although knocking on a bit has actually only raced twenty times during his seven season career.

Available at a best priced 100/1 with Grand National Odds, Trust Fund might well give those interested in backing a long shot a seriously good run for their money and could go close to reviving memories of 1982 in attempting to put the hunter chase fraternity back in the Grand National spotlight.

Dessie Hughes is one of Ireland’s most established and skilled trainers, who has had consistent success with numerous horses over the years, most notably with Hardy Eustace. A successful jockey in his own right, he won the 1977 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Davy Lad and he also beat Sea Pigeon, riding Monksfield in his most famous victory in the Champion Hurdle.

In 1980 he took out his own training licence and had early success with Light The Wad who won the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown in 1982 and the 1981 and 1982 renewals of the Drogheda Chase at Punchestown. And in 1982 had a coveted Cheltenham victory with Miller Hill in the Supreme Novice Hurdle.

In 2001 Hughes bought Hardy Eustace for IR£21,000 and Central House for IR£28,000, who went on to win a total of twenty-five races between them, including nine Grade Ones. Hardy Eustace in particular proved to be a consistent hurdler who was particularly forthcoming at Cheltenham and has already earned over €1million in his career.

Hughes bought Schindlers Hunt at the same place as Hardly Eustace and Central House for €28,000, and he has already won the Grade One Durkan New Homes Novice Chase at Lepordstown and the Baileys Irish Arkle just one month later. He went on to win the 2008 renewal of the Dan Moore Handicap Chase and the the 2009 Leopardstown Handicap Chase before going on to be Grade One placed at Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown.

Dessie Hughes also trains Black Apalachi who has recently stunned his trainer by becoming one of the Grand National favourites following a superb victory in the Becher Chase last November. Hughes was surprised as the horse had started off well in his career but had taken a bit of a downturn. He is now well back on track, so it may prove to be third time lucky for the gelding.

Hughes also has another Grand National 2010 hopeful in Vic Venturi who, after stealing the show at the Beechers Chase in November 2009, and at just nine years of age, is in his prime for this kind of race. Again, he was not on top form for the past couple of years but the latter half of 2009 has shown his true potential with two wins and a second from three starts.

Overall Hughes’ chances of success at two of the biggest meetings in the racing calender are looking promising! To have a bet on either of these horses winning the 2010 Grand National go to Paddy Power Bookmakers!