A year is a long time in life, and it’s a relative eternity in horse racing.
So making ante-post predictions for the Grand National months in advance is fraught with risk, however the potential rewards – locking in a great early price – ensure that value can be achieved if you look in the right places.
The Grand National betting market begins to firm up in the weeks after the new year celebrations have become a distant memory, but with many firms already posting their ante-post prices there’s no time like the present to start considering the most equitable of selections.
With that in mind, here are five horses that could go very nicely in the 2023 Grand National.
Stattler
Stattler won a quality heat of the National Hunt Challenge Cup at Cheltenham in March, and it’s telling that the horse he beat by eight lengths that day – Run Wild Fred – was backed into 8/1 for the Grand National just a few weeks later.
It shows the regard that the seven-year-old is held in, and that win at the Festival suggests he will have no issues stepping up to four miles while carrying a punishing handicap.
There’s no doubt that Stattler has benefited from stepping up in trip, and victory in a Class 1 at Naas in January – defeating classy operators like Farouk D’Alene and Vanillier – was confirmation that Willie Mullins has an elite stayer in his hands.
🆕 We have a NEW favourite for the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
— Betfair Racing (@BetfairRacing) January 30, 2022
👀 Stattler is now 3/1 from 7/1 to win in March after Grade 3 success at Naas for @WillieMullinsNH and @PTownend.
pic.twitter.com/XRBtFndDc7
Ahoy Senor
With victories in the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle and the Mildmay Novices’ Chase, Ahoy Senor is already setting up to be something of an Aintree specialist.
Even concerns that the seven-year-old jumps to the right have been allayed by his undoubted speed and staying power, and as long as the going is good or good-to-soft for the Grand National, Ahoy Senor is shaping up to be a chaser of some repute.
Chantry House
The old warrior Santini placed in the 2022 Grand National, but it’s the horse that beat him in the Cotswold Chase that really catches the eye.
What can you say about Chantry House – a horse with nine wins, but two failures to finish, in 13 starts?
The pace of the Gold Cup was such that Nico de Boinville pulled up the mercurial eight-year-old, but a horse that once won the Mildmay at Aintree by some 32 lengths is hard to write off completely.
Shan Blue
And the horse that came second to Chantry House in the Mildmay back in 2021?
Shan Blue has arguably kicked on since that fateful day, and while the pace of the Ryanair Chase was not to his liking, this is a horse with a handy CV at Aintree already.
That was franked by a second place at the Grand National Festival in April, and if he was to be well treated by the handicapper there is plenty of scope for improvement from Shan Blue.
Diesel D’Allier
Since leaving behind his native France, Diesel D’Allier has impressed on UK soil.
What a thriller!
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) December 10, 2021
The grey Diesel D’Allier denies the gallant 11-year-old Potters Corner in a memorable @glenfarclas Crystal Cup for Richard Bandey and Harry Bannister @CheltenhamRaces | @harry_bann1310 pic.twitter.com/uJVlPWbAgv
He finished just 20 lengths behind two-time Grand National winner Tiger Roll as a seven-year-old at the Cheltenham Festival, beat former Welsh Grand National champion Potter Corner in December and once again showed nicely for backers in the Cross Country Chase in March.
He, like the other four horses on this list, are very interesting ante-post interests for the 2023 Grand National.
