Aintree prize-money upped to near 3 million

The 2016 Crabbie's Grand National Festival at Aintree will be the richest ever with close to 3 million pounds in prize money on offer over the three-day meeting, which runs from Thursday, April 7 to Saturday, April 9.

The 2016 Crabbie's Grand National Festival at Aintree will be the richest ever with close to £3 million in prize money on offer over the three-day meeting, which runs from Thursday, April 7 to Saturday, April 9.

Weights unveiled on Tuesday

Weights for the Crabbie's Grand National will be unveiled at the Sky Garden in the heart of London on Tuesday, February 16. The Crabbie's Grand National is the only handicap of the year where the British Horseracing Authority's Head of Handicapping, Phil Smith, has absolute discretion to deviate from the normal handicap ratings when framing the weights.

Shotgun Paddy will test his Aintree credentials in the Betfred Eider Chase over an extended four miles at Newcastle on February 27.

Trained by Emma Lavelle, the nine-year-old has been a standing dish in staying contests since capturing the Grade Three Betfred Classic Chase at Warwick in January, 2014. He went down by a neck in that year's four-mile National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and was last seen out when third to Mountainous in the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on January 9.

Lavelle, who is based in near Andover in Hampshire, said: "Shotgun Paddy has come out of the Welsh National in great order and will go for the Eider at the end of the month.

"I suppose Newcastle will tell us whether we should be seriously considering Aintree or looking at something else.

"He has had two really good runs this year, but the problem with running as consistently as he does is that he gets no respite from the handicapper. It is very hard to win these valuable handicaps, especially when you have a big weight all the time.

"He will have under 11st for the first time in a handicap if he gets to Aintree, which is interesting, but he would need ground on the soft side. They would leave him behind otherwise."