Grand National Tips: 14/1 Raffles looks just the ticket

At 16:00 on Saturday, a field of 34 will jump off for the Grand National - the world's most-famous horse race - at Aintree.

I've had a good look at every runner and landed on three Grand National tips, as I bid to follow-up last year's winner.

Intense Raffles each-way @ 14/1

I'm surprised at the lack of support for INTENSE RAFFLES ahead of the Grand National, for I think the seven-year-old has outstanding claims.

Perhaps it's because his trainer Thomas Gibney isn't a big name in the sport, or the forecast ground. It's expected to be good to soft on the National course on Saturday and the Martaline gelding has almost exclusively raced on soft or worse in his career to date. He did encounter quicker conditions on his sole Flat run in France back in August 2021, though, which offers a bit of optimism. It's an unknown rather than a negative at this stage.

That aside, his profile is highly-appealing. He bolted up on his first two starts for Gibney earlier last year, before winning the Irish National on the opening day of April off a mark of 140.

It's clearly been the plan to target the English edition ever since, for he had a couple of spins over hurdles at Navan in December and January to preserve his handicap rating of 151 and once that was set in stone, he went to Fairyhouse in February and finished under a length behind Willie Mullins' Nick Rockett in the G3 Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse.

The selection was conceding three pounds to the winner, despite the fact he's rated 10lbs inferior, so it's fair to say it was a huge run. He's 15lbs better off on Saturday and should comfortably reverse that form.

It's a really competitive renewal of the Grand National, there's no doubt about it, but Intense Raffles has obvious claims under the brilliant JJ Slevin and he's drifted to a highly-attractive price as far as I'm concerned. He's my main play - each-way, as all three selections are, to make the most of Betfred's seven places.

Online & App only. 7 Places @ 1/5 Odds. Applies to single & multiple bets placed 12:00 03/04/25 – 16:00 05/04/25. Win or Each-Way market only. Best Odds Guaranteed does not apply. T&Cs Apply.

Senior Chief each-way @ 28/1

There's few better at readying one for a big day than Henry de Bromhead, who's had Aintree in mind for SENIOR CHIEF for quite some time.

The eight-year-old son of Gentlewave won a competitive handicap at Cheltenham's October meeting at the start of the season off 142, earning a hefty rise of nine pounds.

Off an increased mark, he then went to Newbury a month later for the Coral Gold Cup and jumped deplorably from start to finish, yet was only beaten 10 lengths into sixth in the end. Under the circumstances, I actually thought it was a decent effort.

He was given a break afterwards and returned over the smaller obstacles at Naas in February, which ought to have put him spot on for the big assignment.

He'll love conditions, with some of his better form coming on a sound surface, and he's got a jockey I rate very highly in Darragh O'Keeffe in the plate.

Whether or not 4m2½f is too far is the question. He didn't appear to stay in last year's Irish National, but that was in desperate conditions after a more taxing season.

I think he deserves another chance in that regard and at the prices, I'm more than happy to give him that.

Twig each-way @ 50/1

Finally, I suggest a couple of quid on TWIG at a huge price.

Ben Pauling's 10-year-old was a brilliant second to Chianti Classico in the Ultima Handicap Chase at last year's Cheltenham Festival and has had a quiet time of it since.

His subsequent run at the Grand National meeting was respectable given he showed signs of post-race ataxia, and he's been kept over hurdles for the majority of the current campaign - again, presumably to protect his mark.

He returned to chasing at Doncaster last month and showed little, but I suspect that was nothing more than a fitness run and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

I expect a much-improved effort on Saturday and if the Twig who was runner-up at Cheltenham a year ago turns up, I could certainly see him finishing in the first seven.

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