Blaklion, the Ante-post favourite for the Grand National at Aintree in April, will head to Haydock on Saturday to contest the Betfred Grand National Trial. He’s been handed down a weight of 11st 12lb by the handicapper and is an 11/4 favourite for the race.
Nigel Twiston-Davies sent his Earth Summit to this race at Haydock before he went on to win the 1998 Grand National and so it’s a tried and tested path that Blaklion will likely tred between now and then.
Twiston-Davies, who evidently thinks the world of a horse who came fourth in last year’s rendition of the steeplechasing showpiece, has been speaking about his plans for the 9-year-old.
"Blaklion goes to Haydock next for the Betfred Grand National on Saturday.
"I think it makes more sense at the moment to go to Haydock as there is a good space between that race and Aintree.
"He is also still in the Gold Cup, which is tempting, but we will probably not go Cheltenham next month. I am not ruling it out - we will just have to see what happens."
Blaklion has been slapped with a weight of 11st 6lb for the Aintree race by Phil Smith and the bookmakers have got him priced up at 10/1 shot to win there.
There’ll be many a racing fan who has an interest in backing the son of Kayf Tara in April keeping a close eye on the box when 15:15 on Saturday comes around.
Of the fourteen other runners that have been declared, a total of nine have declarations for Aintree, too, and so the wider Grand National picture could be changed by events at Haydock also.
