Big Fella Thanks was always an ante-post favourite with the bookies for the 2010 Grand National but after his winning performance today at Newbury, in the Raymond Mould Supporting Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase, where he romped home, he has now trumped Tricky Trickster with Paddy Power to become the 8/1 horse to beat on April 10th.

Speculation has been rife as to whether or not Paul Nicholls can finally win a Grand National and his hopes seem to have originally been pinned on Tricky Trickster but this afternoon, stable mate Big Fella Thanks proved his weight in gold when he pipped another stable mate, Pasco with Ruby Walsh, to the winning post with Barry Geraghty on board.

Walsh had looked very comfortable and confident on Pasco but not as much as Geraghty on Big Fella Thanks, who started the race 8/1 odds, as he shot passed and took a narrow lead after Pasco pecked on landing after the third last.

This win was considered a warm-up for Big Fella Thanks and even Nicholls was surprised that he had won having admitted after the race that he had expected Pasco to bring home the win. He has since confirmed that both horses will be going to Aintree – BFT in the National and Pasco in the Topham.

With Nicholls now sitting on the first and second ante-post favourites for the Grand National it would appear that almost nothing can stop his current winning streak but the Grand National is a notoriously difficult race and anything can, and usually does, happen on the day!

Big Fella Thanks is one of those horses that could go either way for the 2010 Grand National. Last year he came 6th so one would think that this year, a bit older and with more experience under his belt that he could go all the way…

Last year he went off somewhere between 14/1 and 20/1 depending on which bookmaker you went with and managed a respectable 6th place, proving yet again that seven year old horses don’t tend to win the National – the last one was Bogskars in 1940! His weight was okay at 11-01 but he still trailed behind the eventual winner, Mon Mome, by a significant twenty-three lengths as he had weakened from the second last.

Since then, he hasn’t run at all so he’s still short on racing experience, but Paul Nicholls is no fool and one can’t help but think that he’s been training Big Fella Thanks all year to give him a really good shot at Aintree in 2010. Prior to the 2009 National he showed himself to be a promising stayer, when he got off the mark the first time over fences with a wide margined victory in a competitive handicap at Doncaster.

He is an extremely promising horse and even though he has only raced a handful of times, it is obvious that there is plenty of room for improvement. We know he can get around the course and we know that he has fantastic jumping skills but he’ll still only be seven years old which I think is too young. This is evident when it comes to closing out races but this is easily rectified and if he gets a great jockey on him for 2010 then watch out because he could be a real contender!

Ante-post odds on Paddy Power are currently 25/1 which is pretty good but don’t forget that ante-post rules apply!