Grand National day is always special and it was confirmed yesterday that I will be riding for Gordon Elliott again this year on Fury Road. More about him later but it is really exciting to get a ride in the big race, it is important to feel involved in it and there will be limited sleep between now and 5.15 on Saturday afternoon.

I have plenty of other rides before then on the card.

2.25 AINTREE – AN TAILLUR

An Taillur ran well in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham where the ground was probably a little slower than ideal. Obviously we got plenty f rain here at Aintree on Wednesday but it is drying out and hopefully the ground will be nice come the off time on Saturday. He goes there with a good chance in an obviously competitive handicap, but I think he will have improved from his run at Cheltenham ad if he has done that then he will be close up.

3.00 AINTREE – SPRINGWELL BAY

I am looking forward to riding Springwell Bay in the Mersey Novices Hurdle. He was impressive at Ascot before wining a small race at Wetherby, where again he won well from an Evan Williams horse who looks quite useful. We are going up to into Grade 1 class against the likes of Hermes Allen and You Wear It Well. They obviously ran at Cheltenham and I am glad we didn’t go to Cheltenham and hopefully we come here as a fresh enough horse. I am looing forward to him and whether he is good enough, we will find out.

3.35 AINTREE – CHAMP

He goes very well fresh and he has a nice break. He was good at Newbury the first day (Long Distance Hurdle) and probably wasn’t quite at his best at Kempton (Long Walk Hurdle on Boxing Day) but he has a great record when fresh. A lot of those horses we take on ran at Cheltenham so I’m looking forward to getting on him again. After Kempton the plan was to come for The Liverpool Hurdle

5.15 AINTREE – FURY ROAD

Its great to pick up a spare ride in the Grand National. He is a class horse who has run in plenty of Grade 1’s and was second in the Mildmay here at Aintree last year to Ahoy Senor. He ran well in the Ryanair and if he stays the trip, I am sure I will have a great spin.

6.15 AINTREE – HASTHING

Hasthing had two penalties when running at Uttoxeter last time and that was hard enough for him. I think it was probably a good bumper in all honesty and he has come on for the run as he hadn’t ran for quite a while so he is entitled to improve, and he will be a lovely horse for next year but he is entitled to take his chance in a race like this.