John Francome, the former champion jockey, has been speaking to the Daily Mail (Grand National is a joke now; 13 February 2013) and he believes that the Aintree Grand National is not the challenging race that it once was.
“No disrespect to the winner Auroras Encore, but he is not the best jumper in the world and he would not have won it five years ago.”
“It [the Grand National] used to be a jumping test, but no longer. It is a joke and horses like Grittar, who won in 1982, wouldn't succeed now because they wouldn't be quick enough.”
“In the past you needed a special type of horse to jump round Aintree. They looked at the bigger fences and backed off themselves, yet on Saturday they were going faster as they got closer to the jumps.”
As this blog discussed in its review of the Aintree meeting, it does seem on the evidence of the 2013 running that a new profile of winning horse might emerge with the new course set up. Time will tell.
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