Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies continued his rich vein of form last weekend with outstanding wins in both Betfair Chase at Haydock Park with Imperial Commander and with the extremely popular, Hello Bud in the Becher Chase at Aintree. These wins followed up victory by Little Josh in the Paddy Power Gold Cup the week before at Cheltenham.

Hello Bud’s win stirred up the antepost betting for the 2011 Grand National which has seen his price cut from around 40/1 into 25/1 in places which, if based on the form shown in this race look to be excellent value.

The 12 year old who was fifth in the 2010 Grand National behind Don’t Push It, proved conclusively that age is no barrier and that he is built for the Aintree fences, he led this race more or less from start to finish, jumping the fences for fun and giving his young jockey, Sam Twiston-Davies the ride of his life. Later Nigel Twiston-Davies confirmed that the Grand National would be his target again this season, despite the fact that he will be 13 when the race takes place. He also confirmed that Hello Bud would have one more run at least before Aintree, probably in January at Warwick as part of his preparation.

His amazing record of not falling in 26 chases is quite astonishing, considering that he has tackled all three of the UK Grand Nationals, as well as a host of top quality handicap chases. Admittedly he did unseat his rider in the Welsh National last season, but other than being pulled up three times, he has finished every race, winning eight times, including his biggest win, the 2008 Scottish Grand National at Ayr.

In the Bechers Chase he never really looked in any danger of losing, although he was very briefly headed by Ballyvesey at the Canal Turn, he soon regained the initiative however and held off any further challenges with some comfort. His stablemate, Irish Raptor with the Twiston-Davies head jockey, Paddy Brennan on board, loomed large three fences from home, but made an awful mistake at the penultimate fence, which put paid to any chance he had.

In fact only seven of the seventeen runners finished the race, which included top weight, Notre Pere, who could only manage fifth place after looking impressive in the early stages. His trainer, Tom Dreaper, looks intent on aiming the 9 year old at the Grand National, for which he has been given odds of 25/1 to win.

Favourite to win the 2011 Grand National is the 2010 winner, Don’t Push It. This follows the news that Denman, who was widely tipped to take his chance in this famous race would not run following his seasonal debut in the Hennessy Gold Cup. Hello Bud remains firmly amongst the leading pack along with Niche Market, Black Apalachi and Notre Pere.

With 40 runners going to post, the Grand National remains one of the toughest races in the world, if not the toughest, to find the winner of. However, there are certain attributes and trends that previous winners have possessed and one is having won the Beacher Chase over Aintree’s famous National fences, which puts Hello Bud in with a great chance of finding himself of the Grand National’s roll of honour come April.

Author Bio: Read more about the 2011 Grand National at the author’s website on the famous race.

Category: Sports
Keywords: grand national, horse racing, horses, runners, jockeys, hello bud