The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England.
The Festival will run from Thursday 13th April to Saturday 15th April (three days). The main event is on the Grand National day which is on Saturday 15th April
Rachael Blackmore, who became the first female to ride the winner of the Aintree Grand National, taking the race on the Henry de Bromhead-trained Minella Times in April 2021 will be attending the festival.
Here are some of her tips for day one of famous horse-racing event.
2.45 - A Plus Tard
"I'm really looking forward to riding A Plus Tard in the Aintree Bowl," said Blackmore to Betfair
"He was running a big race in the Gold Cup. I was probably a little further back than ideal, the way the race was developing, but I had just begun to move up. I had just begun to track Paul (Townend, jockey of Galopin Des Champs), I had my eyes set on him, and then Ahoy Senor fell in front of me and brought down Sounds Russian.
"A Plus Tard actually had to jump them both. It's amazing what horses can do. He jumped the first one, then as soon as he landed, he saw the other one, and he jumped him as well.
"Obviously that took me out of the race. It was just one of those things. I continued for a little while, just to see if I could creep back into it, but that's such a crucial point in the race, it was just starting to get going, and we couldn't recover from that.
"I was very happy with how he felt at the time, I was very happy with how he was travelling. I thought that he was going to run a big race. Who knows how the race would have panned out, or how he would have come up the hill, but I was very happy with him at the time.
"On the plus side, he didn't have a hard race. And he has been in great order since. I gave him a pop last week, and he seems to be in great form.
"It's a really good race obviously, it's going to be like a mini Gold Cup. There's no Galopin Des Champs, but we have Shishkin instead. But I'm very happy with A Plus Tard and I'm very much looking forward to this."
4.40 - Dancing On My Own
"I ride Dancing On My Own in the Red Rum Chase. He has been well beaten in his two runs this season, but he has been going well at home and I hope that he can bounce back.
"He ran a big race to finish second in this race last year. He led for most of the way, he was only caught by The Last Day on the run to the final fence, and the two of them finished well clear of the rest of the field.
"He's only 3lb higher in the handicap now than he was then, and that gives him a chance. He obviously likes it around Aintree, and I think that he'll prefer the ground that we're going to get on Thursday to the ground that he had at Fairyhouse the last race. Hopefully he can bounce back to form."
5.15 - July Flower
"I ride July Flower in the Grade 2 mares' bumper. She is a really nice filly, she has come from France where she won two bumpers, the second of them a Grade 1 race at Fontainebleau.
"I was lucky enough to win this race two years ago on Me Too Please, and it is a race that has been won by some good mares in the past, it was won by Ashroe Diamond last year.
"I hope that July Flower can go well. She has been working well at home and I'm excited to see how she'll do now."
