No hurdles or fences are encountered in the race – the only occasion that happens at the Festival apart from the Charity Race. This race run over 2M ½ F for those aged between four and six has primarily been the preserve of the Irish who set far greater store in winning this than their English counterparts.

The race attracts plenty of different types and occasionally you will spot a well-known flat jockey having a ride in the race – Jamie Spencer won the 2002 event on Pizarro for Edward O’Grady and Pat Smullen better known for his flat exploits took the ride on Hidden Universe last year for Dermot Weld. We mentioned earlier that it is a race that the Irish love to win and so far the score is 14-4 to them in the 18 runnings of the race – with Willie Mullins contributing six winners to that Irish total of 14. What is significant about the Mullins winners is that only one of them was not a once-raced five year old, Missed That bucking the trend in 2005. So if you are thinking of backing a Mullins runner once raced and five years old is generally the way to go from the several runners that he usually has in the race.

Of course statistics don’t give you all the winners and sometimes the statistics are broken as they were last year when we had the first four year old winner since 1995 with Cue Card landing a very impressive win for the Tizzards – trainer Colin and jockey Joe, so not all Cheltenham 2011 bets should be placed on the basis of past stats. That was the fourth English winner in the race – three of those four have been in the four year old group which has not had the best record of the race of late.

One facet of any potential selections make up to consider though is that it has won in a field that at least numbers double figures. This can be a rough and tumble race and it pays to have plenty of experience in order to handle that, 16 of the last 18 winners have already won a bumper which contained 13 or more runners, so those looking at the Cheltenham betting offers should remember this.

There may be no obstacles but the Festival bumper is now established very much as part of the rich fabric of the Cheltenham Festival

Carl Llewellyn is one of very few jockeys to take the coveted title of Grand National winning jockey not once but twice when he successfully rode both Party Politics in 1992 and Earth Summit in 1998. Modest Llewellyn stresses that his National wins have both been all about luck but it’s far from just luck that made Llewellyn the champion jockey he was and more the determination that is essential if a jockey is going to ‘make it’.

He rode his first National Hunt winner in 1986 and by the 1987-88 season, with 41 wins under his belt he had taken the conditional jockeys title. In 1988 he made his debut in the Grand National on Ginger McCain-trained Kumbi and even though Llewellyn’s ride was ended by a somersaulting fall, he remained enthusiastic and unphased, reporting it as having been ‘a brilliant first ride’.

His second entry to the National, on Smart Tar resulted in another fall and it was another three years before Llewellyn rode in the National again. This time however it was ‘third time lucky’, even though Llewellyn stated afterward that he had felt very unhappy at the beginning of the race due to Party Politics breathing problems.

At this stage Llewellyn was riding regularly for Nigel Twiston-Davies, who he went on to work with for 19 years. Following many big-race wins and showing further prowess at Aintree, with a third on 100-1 outsider Camelot Knight in 1996, 1998 was Llewellyn’s next big year when he won the National on Earth Summit, by 11 lengths. Earth Summit became the first horse to win at Aintree as well as the Scottish and Welsh Grand Nationals.

He is now back in partnership with Nigel Twiston-Davies and is sure to submit a serious contender for the 2010 Grand National title he could be in with an incredible chance of becoming a winning trainer but for now it’s the Paul Nicholls trained Tricky Trickster that has the bookies all flustered so he might have his work cut out for him…

Tricky Trickster is the big name this year with the following ante-post odds at the bookies:

Ladbrokes – 16/1
Paddy Power – 18/1
Betfair – 21/1

The last 10 years have seen an explosion of Irish winners at the Aintree Grand National but the history between the two goes back much further than that. In fact it was two Irish fox-hunting gentlemen Edmund Bake and Cornelius O’Callaghan who gave birth to the word ‘steeplechase’ back in 1752! So it only seems appropriate given the races origins that the Irish have the greatest overseas impact at the Aintree Grand National.

Since the race first started in 1839 there have been 25 Irish winners of the Grand National starting with Coolreagh-bred Matthew who won the race in 1847, the 10-1 joint favourite. The next was Abd-El-Kader who became the first dual winner of the Grand National in 1850 and 1851. But it took a long 24 years before The Liberator triumphed, having finished third behind Austerlitz two years earlier. Trainer Henry Linde and jockey Tommy Beasley came back in force in 1881, winning again with Woodbrook, who revelled in the boggy conditions.

Over 100 years later the Irish are still having an incredible impact at this glorious race meeting including jockey of L’Escargot Tommy Carberry who trained the 1999 Irish and English National winner Bobbyjo, who was ridden by Tommy’s son Paul. The father-son combo quickly caught on and in 2000 Papillon won, with Ted Walsh training and son Ruby riding his first National.

2003 saw Monty’s Pass be victorious by 12 lengths, while Ruby Walsh secured his second National victory on Hedgehunter in 2005 who was also a runner up in 2006 behind Irish-trained Numbersixvalverde, Martin Brassil’s first runner in the National. Success came again in 2007 with Silver Birch who beat McKelvey by three quarters of a length, and in 2008 with Comply Or Die, proving that the Irish really do have what it takes in the great race!

Don’t forget that you can get some unusual bets at Paddy Power including the odds on an Irish trained horse to win the race outright!

Back in the 2009 Grand National, the French bred gelding My Will, owned by the Stewart family, started the race at 8/1 and joint second favourite and, to be fair, he did very well coming in a respectable third place after Mon Mome and Comply or Die.

But why was he so heavily backed and favoured for this race given that most French bred horses do not excel at the Grand National? The reasons are very clear – following a nineteen month break he returned to the horse racing calendar in November of 2008 where he took fifth place in the Hennessey Gold Cup and he then went on to claim a credible fifth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, where he truly belied his 100/1 starting price. He is a consistent runner, who runs well on good to firm ground, and he had run well on the Melling course, displaying his ability to act on flat left-handed track.

At nine years old, prior to the 2009 National he had placed in eighteen of his twenty seven chase starts and has fallen only once, so while the National fences are unforgiving, he was already set up well. He was also well handicapped for the 2009 National, and given a reasonably good weight at 11lbs 4.

If further proof of his potential to win the Grand National is needed then look no further than the fact that he is trained by Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls and jockey Ruby Walsh chose to ride him. While Ruby managed to achieve third place with My Will in the 2009 National, he admitted afterwards that four or five mistakes cost him valuable impetus.

He has run once since the 2009 Grand National (at the time of writing this) and did manage to come in second place after The Listener so he is getting some valuable run-outs under his belt. Only time will tell if he will be declared for the Grand National 2010 but if he is and Ruby decides to ride him again he could be one to look out for.

Check out Paddy Power for the latest ante-post odds on My Will.

Buzz surrounds the Aintree Grand National all year around with rampant speculation as to who will win months before the entrants have even been named so what are the prospects for one of the more seasoned horses – Comply or Die?

Comply or Die is trained by David Pipe and made his racecourse debut in a novices hurdle at Taunton, in October 2003. In March 2005 he managed to finish second to Trabolgan in the Grade One Royal and Sunalliance Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and finished the 2004/05 season with a sixth placing in the Befred Gold Cup. The following season was cut short after a setback in the Coral Welsh National and it would be two years before he was put on a racecourse again. Back at Cheltenham in October, 2007, Comply or Die lacked race fitness and only managed to finish in 16th place. He also disappointed on his next run when pulled up in a Grade Three Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on November 17.

It was the application of blinkers that produced a huge turnaround in Comply or Die, and he ran his best race up to that point, in the Tommy Whittle Handicap Chase at Haydock in December, finishing second behind the Grand National favourite Cloudy Lane. In the 2008 Grand National he beat off a strong challenge from King John’s Castle to take victory by four lengths, with Irish jockey Timmy Murphy riding the David Pipe-trained nine-year-old for his first Grand National win after 11 previous attempts. He followed up in the 2009 Grand National with a second place behind Mon Mome. He came out of the race in good shape so it looks likely that owner David Johnson will see fit to put him the 2010 National.

Age – generally we recommend horses who are 9 or 10 years old and Comply or Die will be 10 for the 2010 Grand National, making him a very good age.

Stamina – we know he can run the distance – he’s done it twice before without faltering…

Weight – could go against him with his previous great performances – he may get one of the top weights which could slow him down, limiting his chances for a second win.

Season – he hasn’t run in a single race since the 2009 Grand National so he’s either being groomed for the next one or he’s showing poor form and being given a bit of a break, only time will tell.

There have been horses that have gone down in Grand National history for their repeat performances – think Red Rum and Hedgehunter – can Comply or Die reach those dizzy heights of success? He was joint favourite at 7/1 in 2008, and odds fell to 14/1 in 2009 but I expect short odds on him again this year – somewhere around 10/1 or less if the bookies have their way so he could be good for an each-way bet…

For Ante-Post odds on Comply or Die, check out Paddy Power and don’t forget your free bet!