O'Brien looking forward to Grand National

Surely the test of any commentator's skills is to keep their impartiality when calling home their own horse - a situation Gary O'Brien hopes can come to fruition through the veteran Vics Canvas in the Crabbie's Grand National.

Christened the 'Voice of Irish Racing' by his At The Races colleague Matt Chapman, O'Brien is widely regarded as one of the best all-round broadcasters in the game.

Be it in his presenting role for ATR, commentating in the point-to-point fields or, as he will be at Aintree, calling the Grand National for BBC Radio 5 Live, O'Brien is unflappable.

At least he has been to date, anyway, and he has admitted to being quite relieved that being in position three of the four commentators he will at least miss the scramble over the first six fences and, with a dollop of luck, be calling home his pride and joy in a finish.

He will be joined by Martin Harris, Darren Owen and John Hunt on the airwaves.

"I must admit I'm not exactly looking forward to calling my own horse in a National," said O'Brien.

"Although, being the third of the four commentators used at least the race will have thinned out, you'd imagine, by the time they reach me.

"If I'd been down to do the first six fences I'm not sure how I'd have coped looking for my own horse while trying to tell everyone else how the other 39 are doing!

"Obviously, there's no guarantee at all he'll even get as far as my position but you wouldn't be human if you weren't keeping a little eye on your own horse.

"There are nerves for a National without having a runner so I've no idea how I'll feel come the day.

"I have actually called one of my own horses before when Bayan ran in a handicap on Irish Champions Weekend in 2014. We lost the pictures so I had to commentate and he finished fourth.

"I felt pleased when an ex-producer pal of mine told me afterwards he'd have had no idea I owned a share in one of the runners, especially one involved in the finish."

Vics Canvas, trained by Dermot McLoughlin, is likely to be among the outsiders come the day and while he may be 13 and no horse his age has won since Sergeant Murphy in 1923, there are pieces of his form that would give him an each-way chance.

He finished second in the Bet365 Gold Cup last season and as recently as November he was beaten less than four lengths into fifth in the Becher Chase to gain the all-important Aintree experience.

"As he's small the better ground helps him with his jumping and it was soft in the Becher yet I still felt he had a chance two out," said O'Brien.

"He just ran a bit keen so he had nothing left for the run-in, but you'd hope in a bigger field he might settle better, though of course that then brings its own dangers with fallers and all sorts of trouble.

"He ran a blinder at Sandown in the Whitbread (Bet365), too, and that was the last time he raced on nice ground so we're hoping it sparks him back to life.

"I know he's 13 and I looked it up that nothing that age has won it since the 1920s, but a few have run well in it - Hello Bud springs to mind.

"We're just riding the wave, really, we nearly retired him a couple of years ago and he only went chasing as a last resort."

Two years ago Vics Canvas ran in the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival but fell early and was trampled on which took him a long time to get over.

"The poor thing was lame as a dog, we ran him a month later as there was nothing physically wrong with him, but he showed absolutely nothing so was obviously remembering the fall," O'Brien went on.

"We went chasing as a last throw of the dice that summer and fences have been the making of him, we'd always avoided them because he fell in two of his point-to-points, but he's a much better chaser than hurdler.

"He was a length and a half away from winning the big Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown last season and because he didn't start racing under Rules until he was seven he's got very few miles in his legs for a 13-year-old.

"I own him with an old college friend of mine, David Eiffe, and another chap called Pat Kelly. He's always been trained by Dermot, who I've known to say hello to for years because he used to ride a horse my dad owned called Ask The Umpire for Jim Dreaper.

"We've had him since just before the 2011 Punchestown Festival and he was going to hack up on his first run for us there, he was five lengths clear when he slipped up on the flat.

"We had him ready to run a few weeks later but he did a tendon, which was probably down to the fall, and he was off for 18 months.

"We then had a good run with him until the Cheltenham fall, but since then the fun we've had with him as been so unexpected given we were on the verge of calling it quits.

"He's won a Cork Grand National, been second at Sandown, run well in a Becher and now he's running in a National, it's all a bonus."