Harry Cobden: Grand National Day As Exciting As It Gets

Blogs | 8^th April 2022

After bagging another Grade 1 winner today Harry Cobden returns to Aintree for the biggest day of the year – Randox Grand National Day!

My Grand National Day Rides

2:25pm – Stage Star

He was far too buzzy on his last run at Cheltenham – the big occasion seemed to get to him.

So much so that the boss has decided to put a hood on the horse for this race. The hood is often used to keep horses that little bit calmer so that they don’t waste any energy before or during the race.

If that has the desired effect that he’ll put in a much improved performance. What you saw at Cheltenham was way below what he’s capable of.

If we can keep him calm then I’d expect him to be fighting it out at the finish. This race looks more winnable on paper with Sir Gerhard staying in Ireland.

3:00pm – Mick Pastor

You can put a line through his two most recent starts. He had a very hard race when winning at Exeter and then shortly afterwards he got beaten at Wincanton when failing to settle.

His most recent start at Cheltenham is best forgotten – it proved he was in real need of a break.

He’s had a lovely long 5 month break and I think he’ll run much better than his odds of 50/1 would suggest. He’ll love the good ground and many of his rivals could run below par after lengthy seasons.

4:15pm – Oscar Elite

He ran an absolute stormer to finish third in a red hot handicap at Cheltenham. I thought I was going to win when we turned into the home straight but he just ran out of petrol coming up the finish.

It’s come to light since that he burst a blood vessel – as horses can when they put in their maximum effort – so I’m mindful that could’ve been the reason why he didn’t quite finish his race last time.

With there being one less week than usual between Cheltenham and Aintree this year, I have to hope that he’s been able to freshen up sufficiently between runs

I’m sure the Tizzards haven’t done much hard exercise with him since. As a team they’ve had some decent success at this Festival in the past, so I’m confident the horse wouldn’t be running unless he was spot on.

5:15 – Lostintranslation

I’m thrilled to have picked up a spare ride for this year’s Randox Grand National. It’s a race that everyone wants to be a part of and I’m really looking forward to it.

The race’s popularity is just on a different scale – whenever I meet people outside the sport one of the first questions I get asked is “Do you ride in the Grand National?”.

With there being 40 runners and 30 fences in between you and victory, it’s quite hard to even think too seriously about winning it.

I just hope my horse enjoys the experience and that we can get into a nice rhythm as early as possible

Lostintranslation, is a very talented horse – I’m amazed he’s 100/1. He’s been slightly out of form of late – but it was only in November that he was winning at grade 2 level at Ascot. So it’s not crazy talk to say that he’s still got the talent left to play a serious part.

They tend to go hell-for-leather over the first three fences in the Grand National, before then slowing down for the next three on that opening line of six.

Once that section is over then everyone settles into it at a fairly slow speed. It’s all about jumping cleanly, staying out of trouble and not getting detached from the pack.

We actually took Lostintranslation down to the David Pipe’s yard and gave him a trial run over the dummy Grand National fences he has there. He felt great and took to the challenge with no worries whatsoever. Here’s hoping he can do the same again tomorrow!

6:15pm – Henri The Second (Best Chance)

We’re very excited to see what this horse can do tomorrow. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn by saying he’s by a decent margin our best Bumper horse – arguably the best based in Britain.

We wouldn’t want the ground to dry out too much for him. Both times he’s won it’s been pretty soft and I think that plays to his strengths.

Truth be told, the yard didn’t actually think he was very speedy before he had his first run, but he’s since proved out on the racecourse that he’s a real talent.

He’s much more of a “galloper” than a “quickener” in that he just keeps up a pretty relentless pace. So we’ll aim to race prominently with him as plan A.

I think he’ll take a fair bit of beating provided the ground isn’t too firm.