The National Is Now Just Another Race

Considering it is April 1 the idea of a certainty in this Saturday's Aintree National might be regarded as a timely exhibition of foolishness. However that many sound judges reckon it is Tiger Roll's to lose simply indicates how the National has basically become just another long distance handicap chase. For some that's a regret. In fact the one National certainty is that this is a good thing.

It's 18 years since Red Marauder's famous National victory slog. That's less than a single generation. And if racing needs reminding that times change then simply imagine the furore there would be if that race occurred now. It would be roundly condemned as a disastrous own-goal.

Red Marauder and Smarty were the only two horses to finish without mishap. Both finished exhausted on heavy ground. Two others, Blowing Wind and Papillon, were remounted to finish. At one point the prospect of nothing finishing felt very real indeed.

A few voices spoke up at the time to point out how it was far from an edifying spectacle. Most however, including, sadly, yours truly, portrayed it more as a reassuring return to the National lottery days of yore.

The one piece of luck in 2001 was that all horses and jockeys returned unharmed. Part of the defence was that the ground conditions were so soft it prevented injuries among the 28 that either fell, unseated rider or were brought down. But basically it was just good fortune.

The National's tradition and prestige will ensure its unique status continues as the one indisputable slot on the sporting calendar when racing takes centre-stage in the consciousness of the wider sporting public. Such attention is both priceless and fraught.

The spectacle has always made it racing's greatest recruiting agent. But the reality of National Hunt racing is that with thrills come spills. Inevitably those spills produce fatalities. And Aintree is when everyone's paying attention to them.

If the far-reaching fence modifications have fundamentally altered the National challenge then the vital payoff over the last six years has been a lack of fatal injuries to runners. For the sport in general, another casualty-free race on Saturday will once again be the best result of all.

If it's a grim thought that the law of averages suggest it's only a matter of time before that happy sequence ends then the importance of being able to stand over the welfare measures implemented to try and avoid that should be obvious to everyone.

Plenty still condemn these measures as finicky exercises in optics. And there's some substance to that. But everyone's self-interest is bound up in the sport being seen to try and do everything possible to maintain a fair balance between challenge and risk.

For the last six years that balance has appeared as assured as possible. If the National challenge has been fundamentally different then the amount of excitement and spectacle, replete with big-priced winners, has once again proved that different and wrong are not the same thing.

Now we have the enthralling prospect of Tiger Roll becoming the first since the greatest National legend of all, Red Rum, to win the great race back to back. The weight of public support and sentiment could even see him go off shorter than Poethlyn who won at 11-4 a century ago.

Red Rum started a 7-2 favourite in 1975 when chasing three-in-a-row but wound up well beaten by L'Escargot. He still went on to prove himself the ultimate Aintree specialist. The reality now is that this four mile race could be run anywhere and Tiger Roll would still be a short-priced favourite.

The Aintree factor is mostly gone. It's still a major test. But if an accurate but notoriously low jumper like Tiger Roll can sail around these fences then it is fundamentally altered. And for the overall sake of the race that's good.

This Saturday's race will hinge around Tiger Roll and the impression that this bonny little character is a better horse than ever this season. His Cross-Country romp at Cheltenham was spectacular and followed on from a Boyne Hurdle victory that even had those closest to him flabbergasted.

The memory inevitably goes back to last year's National finish and how Tiger Roll ultimately only just lasted home from Pleasant Company on soft ground. It's worth looking back though at how comfortably he travelled through the race and how authoritative his victory looked set to be.

It looks like ground conditions may not be as soft this time for a horse going into the race apparently in the form of his life. He may wind up a very short price but that might simply take into account how the National is a very different beast now.

If you think 7-2 would be a decent bet about Tiger Roll against this opposition around Cheltenham then it really should be too around Aintree.

Nevertheless it's hard to ignore though how a short-priced favourite has thrown up a number of attractively priced alternatives and Willie Mullins's Rathviden may be prove the one to spoil the Tiger Roll storyline.

Ground versatile, a four mile Cheltenham winner, and victorious in his sole start this season, Rathvinden ticks a lot of boxes. The age profile of 11 year olds will be held against him but this is hardly the usual sort of grizzled veteran having had just 19 races in his life.

Rathvinden's likely to be Ruby Walsh's pick too from a Mullins team that's also likely to include last year's runner up Pleasant Company, Up For Review and Pairofbrowneyes. The presumption is Walsh will pick Rathvinden and, if you're interested, there's even a market if you want to bet on that topic.

Paddy Power tweeted its odds last week. It was 1-5 Walsh rides Rathvinden with 4-1 about Pleasant Review and 16-1 Up For Review. That's the Paddy Power that employs Walsh to help with various advertising campaigns, blogs and generally fly the flag as its horse racing ambassador.

This space is blue in the face pointing out how sponsorship deals between bookmaking firms and many of racing's leading figures are lucrative and no doubt harmless branding exercises that provide a nice earner for all involved.

But they're also disastrous own-goals in terms of the betting public and the inevitable perception issues involved in jockeys and trainers being so cosily wrapped up in commercial bed with bookmaking organisations.

Apparently last week's AGM of the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners was a heated affair that ultimately appears to have wound up in a state of as-you-were. In particular the contentious issue of whether or not any one of its over 2,000 members might be eligible to stand for election as the AIRO's representative on the board of Horse Racing Ireland was heavily voted down.

However dismissing it all as a case of more heat than light looks off the mark. The question of AIRO members not being indemnified came to the fore in the context of council member James Gough taking an action against the AIRO. It also emerged that the AIRO hasn't had any trustees since 2014 despite its own constitution stating it requires at least two.

There now appears to be doubt as to whether that trustee requirement is necessary at all, something set to be addressed at the next AIRO council meeting. At that same meeting the question of personal liability for members is also likely to be discussed although there doesn't seem to be any particular unease about the issue.

To many it probably sounds like a job of organisational housekeeping is required. But in governance terms that's hardly an unimportant outcome in itself.