2012

:00:12. > :00:15.What you'll see at Aintree this afternoon is the end product, the

:00:16. > :00:19.dream, for thousands of people across the country, working yards,

:00:19. > :00:23.big and small, the ultimate thrill is to be involved in a horse that's

:00:23. > :00:33.running in the Grand National and for one of them they will know by

:00:33. > :00:33.

:00:33. > :01:17.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

:01:17. > :01:20.this evening that they have won the And this is the stage for a

:01:20. > :01:26.sporting event like no other. The Grand National was first run in

:01:26. > :01:30.1839. It was won by the five to one favourite. He was a horse called

:01:30. > :01:35.Lottery. In the intervening years it's seemed like a complete lottery.

:01:35. > :01:39.Crowds want to be here, including Sir Alex Ferguson. They want to be

:01:39. > :01:49.here to witness history in the making. It's as famous for the

:01:49. > :01:50.

:01:50. > :01:56.horse that's have won it, for the likes of Foinavon or Alderniti, but

:01:56. > :02:02.also famous for those who haven't, the most dramatic Devon Loch, who

:02:02. > :02:06.took a flying leap there and denied the Queen mother a victory in this

:02:06. > :02:11.race. Aintree today is a complete sellout. A lot of people are here

:02:11. > :02:16.in the betting ring to work out what they're going to back of the

:02:16. > :02:21.40 runners in the race. There's been a lot of money for a horse

:02:22. > :02:25.called Seabass. In 1944 the film was made of National velvet. In it

:02:25. > :02:29.Elizabeth Taylor dressed as a boy, came here and won the Grand

:02:29. > :02:34.National. Today fantasy could become reality. That is arguably

:02:34. > :02:39.the biggest story of all. Nina Carberry as well in there on

:02:39. > :02:44.Organisedconfusion. This race touches the soul like no other.

:02:44. > :02:49.Here in the sunshine at Aintree, we've got live commentary... Spring

:02:49. > :02:55.comes to consciousness and sets the pulse racing. Across the good to

:02:55. > :03:03.firm of these thrilling fields. Where plot was to extend beyond the

:03:03. > :03:06.mortal realm. And moisened palms crease betting slips twixt fingers

:03:06. > :03:15.crossed. Reminisces from the big chair of flight without wings

:03:15. > :03:21.tearing through the air. Flak back cut aways to monochrome collisions,

:03:21. > :03:26.men jockey for position. The commotion of emotion, the first to

:03:26. > :03:33.show, the electric sprinters, the ready, steady go, the sheep skin

:03:33. > :03:38.nose band, the blinkered view, the mythical flying horse, the too good

:03:38. > :03:44.to be true, the ripple of muscle, the pound of flesh, the old, the

:03:44. > :03:49.young, the tired, the fresh. Owners, trainers, runners, riders, debt

:03:49. > :03:55.certs, favourites, fancied outsiders. This heroic noble equine

:03:55. > :04:00.beauty merely serves to widen the smile. This is about place, or

:04:00. > :04:07.culture and nothing comes within a mile. The geography has never

:04:07. > :04:14.changed for the wise man or the fool. It's in the country's DNA,

:04:14. > :04:18.Aintree, Liverpool. It all comes down to these

:04:19. > :04:23.magnificent animals. Down in the stables and arrived early

:04:23. > :04:28.Synchronised, the Gold Cup winner, trying to emulate the last horse to

:04:28. > :04:32.do the same in 1934. That's Ballabriggs in the same box as last

:04:32. > :04:38.year and the same box that Red Rum used to have. That's Seabass, the

:04:38. > :04:41.mount of Katie Walsh, attracting all the money. West End Rocker,

:04:41. > :04:46.Wayne Hutchinson will ride him. Sometimes you can ask a question:

:04:46. > :04:52.Do you think you're going to win the National? This is Ruby Walsh's

:04:52. > :04:56.horse. Are you any good? I think that's a yes. They have been

:04:56. > :05:00.beautifully cared for and prepared and AP McCoy is the man getting the

:05:00. > :05:06.leg up on Synchronised trying to win his second Grand National. Ruby

:05:06. > :05:10.Walsh and Barry Geraghty chat ago way to each other. A real feeling

:05:10. > :05:14.of camraderie. That was Dennis O'Regan and Andrew Thornton there.

:05:14. > :05:18.Richard Johnson could have a decent ride. He's chuckling away. He rides

:05:18. > :05:23.Planet of Sound. And Jason Maguire is back again, hoping for another

:05:23. > :05:27.dose of the best feeling in the world. Bob Champion who won in 1981,

:05:27. > :05:31.will be leading out these jockeys, who include eight Grand National

:05:31. > :05:35.winners for the legends race, the first race we'll show you live. A

:05:35. > :05:40.lot of old, familiar faces there. A lovely atmosphere in the changing

:05:40. > :05:44.room I suspect. Mick fits Gerald, a man who won the race. There's such

:05:44. > :05:47.a buzz around the place. There is nothing quite like Liverpool.

:05:47. > :05:50.There's nothing quite like the Grand National. It brings people to

:05:50. > :05:54.life. Everywhere you look there's a story and could this be the

:05:54. > :05:58.greatest story of all, this year? Do you think that Nina Carberry or

:05:58. > :06:01.Katie Walsh winning would be the story that would reverberate around

:06:01. > :06:04.the world. Will that make the biggest impact? It feels like

:06:04. > :06:08.something very special is going to happen today, it really does. I

:06:08. > :06:11.don't know whether I'm getting wrapped up in the buzz that is just

:06:11. > :06:15.this race. There is something very special about it. Do you come here

:06:15. > :06:20.now thinking "I wish I was still riding?" Is that the best place to

:06:20. > :06:24.be? I do. On days like this, to walk down that little walkway here

:06:24. > :06:28.to feel like you own this place for ten minutes. We are with you all

:06:28. > :06:34.afternoon until 5.10pm. Here are some of the things we have in

:06:34. > :06:39.store: Come tomorrow they may find themselves on the front pages of

:06:39. > :06:45.the newspapers. I went to Yorkshire to meets the knellson family who

:06:45. > :06:49.own According To Pete. One of the greatest stories of the day could

:06:49. > :06:55.be of Katie Walsh won the Grand National for her Father Ted. He

:06:55. > :07:00.rides Seabass, the best backed horse of the day. We take a tour

:07:00. > :07:07.around 30 fences that they will be jumping in the company of winning

:07:07. > :07:11.jockey Mick FitzGerald. We pay tribute to ginger McCain, the

:07:11. > :07:17.trainer of Red Rum, has been followed by his son Donald, who

:07:17. > :07:21.trains Ballabriggs this year. James May takes a fascinating Turin side

:07:21. > :07:26.the lungs and heart of a race horse. He's the best person to look under

:07:26. > :07:32.the bonnet. And the big race itself, 40 runners

:07:32. > :07:36.line up at 4.15pm, for the greatest jumps race in the worldment --

:07:36. > :07:46.world. We have five races before world. We have five races before

:07:46. > :08:11.

:08:11. > :08:17.Our very own Richard Pitman who came so dlos winning the Grand

:08:17. > :08:25.National in 1973 and who only recently donated a kidney is riding

:08:25. > :08:35.in this John Smith's legends race, all of this raising money for the

:08:35. > :08:35.

:08:35. > :09:29.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

:09:29. > :09:34.Bob Champion Cancer Trust, which he We have and this could be dangerous,

:09:34. > :09:44.we've put a microphone on Richard, to hear what's going on. Have a

:09:44. > :09:47.

:09:47. > :09:56.little listen. Settle down. Unlike Pitters, he's being quiet quite at

:09:56. > :10:02.the moment. There's betting on this race as well. Mick Fitzgerald is

:10:02. > :10:08.with me, some of these are great mates of yours. I think Pitters is

:10:08. > :10:14.being safe there. He's hardly out of breath already. Marcus Armitage

:10:14. > :10:18.has been doing some fitness. Yes, and he's very competitive, very fit.

:10:18. > :10:28.Adrian Maguire there. Adrian was brilliant as a jockey. He will be

:10:28. > :10:32.

:10:32. > :10:35.competitive also. That's Cape Express in the foreground. Number

:10:35. > :10:40.four is Fidelis. We hope for a clean start. Our live action is

:10:40. > :10:43.going to get under way on Grand National with this race for

:10:43. > :10:48.legendary jockeys. Let's hand up to legendary jockeys. Let's hand up to

:10:48. > :10:56.the commentary box and Jim McGrath. Thank you Clare. We have seen a

:10:56. > :11:01.gallop by Bob Champion and John Joe O'Neill. They led the horses out.

:11:01. > :11:06.These great riders, most of them part of the Aintree legend here,

:11:06. > :11:11.all past winners. Mr Marcus Armitage there on the left. In the

:11:11. > :11:19.red with the white sleeves. Last amateur to win the Grand National

:11:20. > :11:23.in 1990 on Mr Frisk. Here is Jonjo on the right, appropriately in KP

:11:23. > :11:31.McManus' colours and on the left Bob Champion. What a great man he's

:11:31. > :11:34.been. 31 years ago he won on Alderniti, one of the greatest

:11:34. > :11:42.fairy-tale wins ever in the history of the Grand National. Bob coming

:11:42. > :11:49.back, fighting cancer, overcoming that and Alde -- Alderniti, a

:11:49. > :11:54.cripple, coming back to win the greatest steeplechase. Jonjo having

:11:55. > :11:59.had illness early in his career. They look like they're coming in.

:11:59. > :12:03.They'll be very xestive, stkpwiet the fact many of them have been out

:12:03. > :12:10.of the saddle for a long time. That's it, they're off and running

:12:10. > :12:20.and May Contain Nuts has begun well. Satou, they're sharing the lead. In

:12:20. > :12:21.

:12:21. > :12:28.third American Trilogy. Just Lille -- Private Story next. Let's hear

:12:28. > :12:35.Richard. A mile-and-a-half to go. Must say the ground feels slightly

:12:35. > :12:41.puddingy on top, different to when you're walking it. Richard Pitman

:12:41. > :12:47.in third last position at the moment. May Contain Nuts on his

:12:47. > :12:54.inside. They swing past the judges, Satou. Two lengths in advance now

:12:55. > :13:03.of Just Lille. In fourth Private Story with the orange cap. Two

:13:03. > :13:12.length as way Mick Cenan in fifth position on American Trilogy. They

:13:12. > :13:16.swing into the back now. Further back in the field then, we can see

:13:16. > :13:19.Miller's Reef. He's decided to stay wide. Adrian Maguire on Arabain

:13:19. > :13:24.Heights has dropped right back through the field to last. He's on

:13:24. > :13:33.the inside there. Pillar of Hercules is on his outside. He was

:13:33. > :13:40.the rider of Band aree. Satou on the inside, the yellow jacket. In

:13:40. > :13:50.the centre moving up stylishly. American Trilogy making ground with

:13:50. > :13:50.

:13:50. > :13:56.the green cap. The grey on the inside Jimmy Frost, very prominent.

:13:56. > :14:02.Vault Vogul making ground. Cape Express is getting a good ride. Two

:14:02. > :14:06.lengths away the grey and Richard Pitman is last now. He said he

:14:06. > :14:12.would run out of puff. He didn't think he would win. Now he's losing

:14:12. > :14:17.ground. Now he's making ground. He's run past May Contain Nuts. It

:14:17. > :14:21.gives him a send off as he goes past. They race to the home

:14:21. > :14:29.straight in this John Smith's Aintree legends charity race. They

:14:29. > :14:36.swing towards the corner now. On the inside the leader is Just Lille.

:14:36. > :14:44.From Sky Calling. In third American Trilogy. He's starting to anything

:14:44. > :14:51.alway. Two lengths away. Vault Vogul. Further back the grey,

:14:51. > :15:00.followed by Adrian Maguire with Arabain Heights. American Trilogy

:15:00. > :15:07.takes the lead. Mick kicks for home now. The 13 times Irish champion on

:15:07. > :15:11.the flat. He's gone two lengths in front. No, there's no danger, he's

:15:11. > :15:14.careering away. It's the 13 times Irish champion who's going to go on

:15:14. > :15:22.and win the John Smith's Aintree legends charity race. He wins it by

:15:22. > :15:32.a street. He wins by seven lengths. In second Vault Vogul. Cape Express

:15:32. > :15:40.

:15:40. > :15:50.in third. Arabain Heights in fifth. Followeded -- followed by Fidelis.

:15:50. > :15:54.

:15:54. > :16:00.Richard Pitman I think has beaten two home. They have all gone around

:16:00. > :16:05.safely. It was the 13 times Irish champion, who was on the best horse.

:16:05. > :16:11.He was able to take advantage of that and to win very comfortably

:16:11. > :16:17.indeed. Number eight, American Trilogy, second number five,

:16:17. > :16:27.Waldvogel, third number one, Cape Express. Fourth number seven, Sky

:16:27. > :16:35.

:16:35. > :16:38.He's loving it. He's there with Dan Skelton and his wife as well.

:16:39. > :16:43.They're absolutely loving it, as they see American Trilogy go to the

:16:43. > :16:46.line and win the Legends Race very well. Nine lengths the winning

:16:46. > :16:51.distance and one-and-a-half between distance and one-and-a-half between

:16:51. > :16:58.second and third. The amazing thing he doesn't look any different Mick

:16:58. > :17:03.Kinan, he retired at the end of 2009. He looks great. He looks no

:17:04. > :17:08.different than when he was riding. Richard Pitman doesn't look that

:17:08. > :17:11.much different. We'll talk to him later. Look at the tiny saddle!

:17:11. > :17:16.There's not much to balance on there. He did very well. I can't

:17:16. > :17:20.wait to talk to him about it. Well done to American Trilogy and great

:17:20. > :17:26.to see those, the faces from years gone by that many people watching

:17:26. > :17:30.will remember and also, lovely that Jonjo O'Neill and bob champion

:17:30. > :17:34.should lead them out and greet them afterwards. For everybody at home,

:17:34. > :17:39.you'll have picked a horse in the sweep stake or selected one to bet

:17:39. > :17:42.on, often the story on the day or the biggest tip is what is being

:17:42. > :17:48.backed. Down to the betting ring to find out.

:17:48. > :17:52.We'll keep you up to date with that. There are golden rules, what are

:17:52. > :17:55.they? Shop around for the value. It's like going to the supermarkets,

:17:55. > :18:04.buying the milk in the morning. Shop around for the value, look for

:18:04. > :18:09.the best prices. If you want a play each way. Most firms going first

:18:09. > :18:13.four, some first five. Would you recommend take a price as well?

:18:13. > :18:16.must. Make sure you take the price and get the value. That's what it's

:18:16. > :18:23.all about. Here we are, there's the all about. Here we are, there's the

:18:23. > :18:28.prices for this the Grand National: It's all about Seabass this morning.

:18:28. > :18:32.It was 16-1 this morning. That's been smashed. It's 10-1 now. It

:18:32. > :18:36.could go off five. Would would have thought that two days ago.

:18:36. > :18:42.Synchronised I thought would start about 6-1. All the money for Katie

:18:42. > :18:50.Walsh and Seabass. Ballabriggs sure to run well again.

:18:50. > :18:54.Junior no money for Junior. Anyone to fancy here? Giles Cross I have

:18:54. > :18:59.that in the BBC sweep. There's a bit of money for that at 20-1. I

:18:59. > :19:04.have Black Apalachi in the sweep. He's a bit too old. Did you have a

:19:04. > :19:12.bet yesterday? I had a good little bet. I was out and about yesterday,

:19:12. > :19:22.zuking and diving. I've had a free bet here from Paddy Power �500 on

:19:22. > :19:26.Your Tie. More runners here: I spoke to Andy Thornton in the pub,

:19:26. > :19:32.he left at 11 o'clock. He looked as if he was getting ready for the

:19:32. > :19:38.ride. Hello Bud has a chance as well. You had a bet on what?

:19:38. > :19:41.backed you to wear a blue tie today. It was 2-1. With Everton playing

:19:41. > :19:48.today and we know the score at halftime. Tell everybody what

:19:48. > :19:53.colour tie you're wearing. A blue tie. So it's �1500 to Alder Hey

:19:53. > :19:57.hospital, the local hospital here. We're starting off with a winner.

:19:57. > :19:59.Great start. They're smiling because Everton are 1-0 up and

:19:59. > :20:06.because Alder Hey will get that money. So many things that could

:20:06. > :20:10.happen today that will end up being talked about in 50 years' time, or

:20:10. > :20:19.100 years even. Let's join Jim McGrath for a scan across the

:20:19. > :20:25.McGrath for a scan across the The Grand National always throws up

:20:25. > :20:29.great stories. The win for Donald McCain's Ballabriggs would make him

:20:29. > :20:34.the first repeat winner since Red Rum, almost 40 years ago. The

:20:34. > :20:38.legendary horse trained by Donald's late father Ginger. He's the same

:20:38. > :20:46.chance as last year. He's fit and well. We've come here fresh. He had

:20:46. > :20:53.a run round at Kelso. He's -- he likes the place. Looking forward to

:20:53. > :20:57.it. It was 1934 when the legendary Golden Miller completed the Gold

:20:57. > :21:03.Cup Grand National double. Today Synchronised aims to join him in

:21:03. > :21:07.the record books. The trainer is very happy with him, you know, to

:21:07. > :21:13.get the Gold Cup was great to. Get the bubble, I -- double, I haven't

:21:13. > :21:20.started to dream about it yet. Nicholls is locked in a battle for

:21:20. > :21:26.the trainers' title with Nicky Henderson. A win for Neptune

:21:26. > :21:31.Collonges or Shakalakaboomboom would have added. Winning grade

:21:31. > :21:39.ones, he's older now, but he's run OK this year. We've never won it.

:21:39. > :21:43.Been close a few times. It would be nice to find one. If there's a

:21:43. > :21:48.horse for the big occasion, surely it's Junior, who seems to save his

:21:48. > :21:53.best for the major racing festivals. Junior is hoping to become the

:21:53. > :21:57.first horse to win at Royal Ascot, Cheltenham Festival and the Grand

:21:57. > :22:02.National. It's a unique achievement. It shows his versatility that he

:22:02. > :22:06.can excel at so many disciplines. Looking forward to the challenge.

:22:06. > :22:13.The oldest horse in the race will be ridden by the youngest jockey,

:22:13. > :22:17.as 14-year-old Hello Bud seeks to become the second oldest winner

:22:17. > :22:23.ever under 19-year-old Sam Twiston- Davies. A good friend of mine. He's

:22:23. > :22:28.done myself massive favours. He's got a massive heart and hopefully

:22:28. > :22:32.he'll just keep galloping. 15 runners have come over from

:22:32. > :22:36.Ireland, including Seabass, ridden by Katie Walsh and

:22:36. > :22:40.Organisedconfusion, the mount of her sister-in-law Nina Carberry.

:22:40. > :22:45.Both are seeking to become the first woman to win the great race.

:22:45. > :22:50.It would be absolutely fantastic. I think it will happen at some stage.

:22:50. > :22:56.I don't know when. We're hoping to get round and if comes down to that,

:22:56. > :23:00.it will be fantastic, history. think an awful lot of people

:23:00. > :23:03.involved in racing have just one thought about this year's Grand

:23:04. > :23:07.National. Jim McGrath, what is the stand-out thing that you hope

:23:07. > :23:12.happens today? I hope there's a great story here. I'm sure there

:23:12. > :23:18.will be. Inevitably this throws up fantastic stories. As we said in

:23:18. > :23:21.the piece before, if Nina Carberry or Katie Walsh could actually win

:23:21. > :23:25.the race it will be so wonderful for the history of the race, for

:23:25. > :23:30.the story of the race. They're two outstanding riders. They get their

:23:30. > :23:33.opportunity here today. There have been modifications to the course.

:23:33. > :23:38.Everyone's done everything possible to make this a safer race. It is a

:23:38. > :23:40.fairer race, a safer race, but it is the ultimate challenge for horse

:23:40. > :23:46.and rider. I don't think there's a single person here that isn't

:23:46. > :23:48.hoping that everyone comes home safe and sound. Darren, this is a

:23:48. > :23:52.very different commentary experience. Is there anything you

:23:52. > :23:57.do that's special for preparing for the Grand National? Well, we've got

:23:57. > :24:00.the problem of Mon Mome and Black Apalachi, both in dark green

:24:00. > :24:05.colours. Black Apalachi wears cheek pieces. I believe they could be

:24:05. > :24:09.brown. I'd like to see Black Apalachi with white cheek pieces.

:24:09. > :24:13.Regarding my position at Becher's Brook, I've got one or two problem

:24:13. > :24:18.areas. There are bushes alongside the golf course by fence number

:24:18. > :24:24.five, which mean it's obscures my view of the landing side of fence

:24:24. > :24:28.four. Fence four is one of Ian Bartlett's fences. If they fall

:24:28. > :24:32.there, it's difficult to pick it up. We don't want anything happening at

:24:32. > :24:38.fence four. The Canal Turn as well, there is a blind spot at the Canal

:24:38. > :24:43.Turn, so you've really got to be on your toes. It is the ultimate

:24:43. > :24:47.commentary challenge. They'll both be joined by Ian Bartlett too.

:24:47. > :24:51.Fence four has been lowered in height and has been modified. If

:24:51. > :24:55.you have a look down here from the start, long, long gallop to the

:24:55. > :25:02.first fence, then a set of six fences and the sixth is Becher's

:25:02. > :25:09.Brook. That is where we find Richard Dunwoody and with him is

:25:09. > :25:13.Rishi Persad. This is one of the fences with modifications to make

:25:13. > :25:17.the race safer for runners and riders. At Becher's Brook they've

:25:17. > :25:23.raised the landing area slightly. How much easier is it? It will be

:25:23. > :25:26.ease tkwror ride. They have built - - easier to ride. They have built

:25:26. > :25:32.it up about five inches. It's not the fence I jumped ten years ago.

:25:32. > :25:37.The ground is good, good to soft in places. I can't find any good to

:25:37. > :25:44.soft places. What do you make TV? Really good jumping ground. It will

:25:45. > :25:47.be against those horses like like it heavy. They've also done some

:25:47. > :25:52.things, procedural changes as well, including a wash down area, similar

:25:52. > :25:57.to what we have at the Olympics. Yeah, great idea, that is. They've

:25:57. > :26:01.got fans there. They've borrowed them from the Olympics to help the

:26:01. > :26:06.horses cool down. Richard and I are in the BBC sweep stake, who have

:26:06. > :26:11.you got? We might be fighting it out your horse and mine at the rear

:26:11. > :26:17.of the field. I've got Hello Bud. And Rare Bob, two of the outsiders.

:26:17. > :26:22.We might not be celebrating today. I picked out Alfa Beat, who's 80-1

:26:22. > :26:32.shot, one of the greys. Who did you get? Becauseicouldntsee. You hope

:26:32. > :26:39.

:26:39. > :26:45.you can. I hope he can. Mick Kinnan being interviewed there. Ofrpblgts

:26:45. > :26:49.He rides out every day? I don't think every day, but he is still

:26:49. > :26:55.involved. Jump jockeys weigh, I was about to say stripped, that's how

:26:55. > :27:02.they referred to it, how much roughly? About ten stone, 10.4. AP

:27:02. > :27:06.McCoy, maybe around 10.7 today, quite comfortable. He's carrying 11

:27:06. > :27:11.stone 10 in the race on Synchronised. He has top weight.

:27:11. > :27:15.The Grand National, there's a handicap. The less talented horse

:27:15. > :27:23.carry the least weight. The difference between Synchronised on

:27:23. > :27:27.11 stone 10 and one of the ones on 10 stone? You look at Tharawaat he

:27:27. > :27:34.only has 10 stone four, for instance. If you try to pick up a

:27:34. > :27:43.bag with these in it, I promise you, it's a real struggle. This one

:27:43. > :27:47.alone OK. We're putting on here 11kilograms worth. How has that

:27:47. > :27:51.worked out? That is how much the difference will be from

:27:51. > :27:59.Synchronised down to the bottom weight. A lot of that weight has to

:27:59. > :28:02.be made up in lead plits that go inside the saddle cloth. It's in

:28:02. > :28:08.weights that are in the saddle cloth. It should be easier for the

:28:08. > :28:14.horse to carry it. This may sound a daft question, do some jockeys ride

:28:14. > :28:20.lighter than others? Yes they do. Somebody who is very light, they

:28:20. > :28:24.spring straight on, dead weight on the other hand just sit there, and

:28:24. > :28:27.it's of no use. The greatest challenge is getting round with all

:28:27. > :28:37.the weight in the saddle cloth, sitting there and making it harder

:28:37. > :28:56.

:28:56. > :29:06.to gallop fast. The ones at the the youngest jockey in the race,

:29:06. > :29:07.

:29:07. > :30:10.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

:30:10. > :30:17.We're in the betting ring again. We have had Tom Segal in, David Yates,

:30:17. > :30:22.and Sam Turner now, Robin Good in the Daily Mail. How's it going?

:30:22. > :30:27.Very good. Hopefully a big race today to safer. Most punters want

:30:27. > :30:31.to know how do you go about picking a win sner You stick a fork in and

:30:31. > :30:35.try to get the first three. I try it approach it by picking something

:30:35. > :30:39.towards the bot o. Weights with a class horse, you know, you have

:30:39. > :30:42.Giles Cross off ten stone one, it's a classy renewal. Something down

:30:42. > :30:52.the bottom of the weights that stays well. We can put the prices

:30:52. > :30:55.

:30:55. > :31:04.up here for the Grand National for I've gone for Treacle. Third in the

:31:04. > :31:11.Irish Hennessy. Also fancy On His Own, because Ruby Walsh rides.

:31:11. > :31:15.Terrific jockey. Great completion rate. I think he'll go OK.

:31:15. > :31:19.Killyglen, still going well when falling four out last year and

:31:19. > :31:24.warmed up with a nice performance at Down Royal. Whro will be

:31:24. > :31:28.favourite? At the moment it's Synchronised -- Who will be

:31:28. > :31:33.favourite? At the moment it's Synchronised. There is so much

:31:33. > :31:37.public momentum for Seabass. All the ones next to her name. I think

:31:37. > :31:41.that horse is gaining some momentum. I thought Ballabriggs would be

:31:41. > :31:47.close, because the ground's dry. I've been shopping around, John,

:31:47. > :31:53.and I've seen a bet here, Ladbrokes, when they come on course, 12-1

:31:53. > :31:58.Synchronised and laid �50,000. Bangers and mash, cash, 12-1. I

:31:58. > :32:03.think Synchronised will go off favourite. Pick another winner?

:32:03. > :32:08.Chapoturgeon in the 3.25. You heard it here first. Robin, thank you

:32:08. > :32:11.very much. Just to emphasise we have four races to come before the

:32:11. > :32:16.Grand National itself. We'll continue to work our way through

:32:16. > :32:20.the 40 runners and riders in reverse-weight order. Batches of

:32:20. > :32:25.ten runners at a time. The last Yorkshire-trained winner was back

:32:25. > :32:29.in 1960, Merryman. We could see the next or the first since then today,

:32:29. > :32:36.because According To Pete is owned and was bred by a man called Peter

:32:36. > :32:39.Nelson, who comes from a village 15 miles north of York. The horse is

:32:39. > :32:44.trained half an hour east of that. When The Local shop closed down and

:32:44. > :32:54.the papers stopped being delivered Peter and his family decided to

:32:54. > :32:56.

:32:56. > :33:01.take on the task themselves and I said OK, I'll help you. It's gone

:33:01. > :33:10.6am. I never did a paper round when I was little, so this is a first

:33:10. > :33:14.for me. Morning. This is your little paper shop? It keeps us

:33:14. > :33:20.getting up in the morning. Sandra, what is the benefit for you? Does

:33:20. > :33:26.he pay you? Keeping fit. Listen, next Sunday it might you you lot

:33:26. > :33:32.all over the front page, you never know. Mustn't scrunch the paper.

:33:32. > :33:35.It's very important. This is Jim, my dad's best friend. What do you

:33:35. > :33:41.think about him having a runner in the Grand National? Fantastic. He

:33:41. > :33:50.dreamed about it. Hello. Good morning. I've got my PJs on. I've

:33:50. > :33:53.seen that. You've set me up for this, Sandra. She hasn't. My dad

:33:53. > :34:03.said if you're going to do something you have to do it well

:34:03. > :34:11.and I might be a bit slow, but I'm being very precise. You are! That's

:34:11. > :34:21.my last one. You lucky thing. I carry that? Are you sure? I've

:34:21. > :34:21.

:34:21. > :34:24.got one left. Somebody who is on holiday. Cheers to you. Natives of

:34:24. > :34:28.Yorkshire are not shy in coming forward with their views and it's

:34:28. > :34:33.that reason partly that explains where According To Pete got his

:34:33. > :34:36.name from. The 11-year-old is one of two in training for Peter Nelson,

:34:36. > :34:42.the 71-year-old businessman. LAUGHTER

:34:42. > :34:47.I've never been a businessman in my life To us, like, a horse is a

:34:47. > :34:51.dream. I use today dream, but never thought weighed own one. -- we

:34:52. > :34:58.would own one. I have a nice workshop and paid obg and field. I

:34:58. > :35:02.love it. I spend my time -- paddock and field. I love it. I spend my

:35:02. > :35:07.time. That's where he runs with his mum. I can't go to the sales, but I

:35:07. > :35:11.can breed one, pay stud fee and keep him and bring him up. This is

:35:11. > :35:15.where Pete grew up, is it? We were going to make it into a shop, but

:35:15. > :35:19.we never got around to it. There is where he grew up in here, for the

:35:19. > :35:23.first two years. We have had him from a foul. We bred him. You look

:35:24. > :35:27.at him and think, well, he could be a world beater or nothing. You

:35:27. > :35:31.don't know. He's growing up here and he's genuinely one of the

:35:31. > :35:37.family. Yeah. You've seen him every step of the way. Turned him out and

:35:37. > :35:40.had him all the time and broken in at Malcolm's when he was a two-

:35:40. > :35:46.year-old. I went to see him when he was born. The funniest thing.

:35:47. > :35:51.Really, why? Because he was white faced. That's all you saw over the

:35:51. > :35:55.door and he shot under his mother. He's been a real star from day one

:35:55. > :35:59.and he goes and does the work and comes off the gallops full of

:35:59. > :36:02.himself again. Talk me through the plans for Saturday. Take the papers

:36:02. > :36:06.first thing. Have a bit of breakfast and head towards

:36:06. > :36:10.Liverpool. Then worry like hell until the race comes. You've never

:36:10. > :36:17.watched him run? I did when he ran in his bumpers and I did when he

:36:17. > :36:21.ran in his hurdle races, but then he went to Cheltenham and I

:36:21. > :36:25.couldn't watch. Where did you go? stood in the toilets. Ever since

:36:25. > :36:30.then I stand in the toilets. That's where you'll be at Aintree? Yeah.

:36:30. > :36:36.love him to do well, because he's been such a lovely, honest animal.

:36:36. > :36:40.I love to par rid him around apple by. -- parade him around Appleby.

:36:40. > :36:46.You never realised how good he was and Mike used to say with Peter,

:36:46. > :36:52.you don't realise what a good horse you've got there. He's been a

:36:52. > :36:56.lovely animal for us and I just hope he gets around safe and sound.

:36:56. > :37:01.Family there, delivering the papers there morning Andhaary Hains had a

:37:01. > :37:04.winner here at Aintree on At A Glance, the horse from Cheltenham

:37:04. > :37:11.and Malcolm's two Cheltenham winners have come here and both of

:37:11. > :37:16.them have won. Cape Tribulation. Harry's in good form. 23-year-old

:37:16. > :37:21.Harry will be having his first ride on According To Pete and Mick you

:37:21. > :37:28.have to fancy him? I do. In the old days there were horses around good

:37:28. > :37:33.form around Haydock and Aintree. Malcolm is red hot. I've got too

:37:33. > :37:39.emotionally attached to him. His wife Anne says, "It's always

:37:39. > :37:43.According To Pete." He's always coming up with a theory or another.

:37:43. > :37:47.The reason the race is so special that over 173 years it has created

:37:47. > :37:51.so much history and we celebrate that as much as anything. The best

:37:51. > :38:01.man to do that is the one who has seen more than anyone, Peter

:38:01. > :38:01.

:38:01. > :38:06.O'Sullevan. Not many people can claim to have trained both the

:38:06. > :38:15.horse and jockey to Grand National glory, but Fred Winter could, after

:38:15. > :38:21.the 65 National. Jade Trump became the first American-bred, owned to

:38:21. > :38:31.win the horse. Much of the credit lay with Fred, a giant of the sport,

:38:31. > :38:31.

:38:31. > :38:35.who rode two Grand National winners and went on to train too more.

:38:35. > :38:40.Jockey Tommy Smith had been primed for his first and what would be

:38:40. > :38:46.last, ride around Aintree's big fences, under the tueth lath of

:38:46. > :38:56.Fred Winter. It real -- tutelage of Fred Winter. It really was a great

:38:56. > :38:57.

:38:57. > :39:01.fin injury. Winter had prepared the imported horse to perfection for an

:39:01. > :39:11.emotional victory that further added to the legend of one of the

:39:11. > :39:13.

:39:13. > :39:16.sport's most dynamic figures. Peter O'Sullevan remembering Fred

:39:16. > :39:20.Winter, one of eight people inducted into the Hall of Fame.

:39:20. > :39:26.Legends who celebrated and Richard Pitman alongside mefplt a lovely

:39:26. > :39:31.list of people, including -- me, a lovely list of people, including

:39:31. > :39:37.Carl Llewellyn. They deserve it. Michael rode 16 consecutive years.

:39:37. > :39:41.That is amazing to think he wasn't broken up. Won it on Oxo and Fred

:39:41. > :39:45.Winter won it twice as a jockey and his first two years training. If he

:39:45. > :39:48.had had Francome on one in 1973 he would have had three. It has to be

:39:49. > :39:54.said, you are one of the very few men who has ridden in it, presented

:39:54. > :40:03.the Grand National, and ridden again back here at Aintree on the

:40:03. > :40:10.flat? I loved it. The doctor told me, because I'm a geriatric, so I

:40:10. > :40:18.had to stay at the back. How were you? I was pretty agricultural.

:40:18. > :40:24.Fantastic. If I would have had a bet in running I would have backed

:40:24. > :40:29.Adrian Maguire, he was cantering at the back. Here's a legend. Come in

:40:29. > :40:34.between us. Michael Scudamore, you won the race on Oxo, the year

:40:35. > :40:40.before television started to cover it? That's right. You have your

:40:40. > :40:46.grandson riding on Junior. Tell us the chance? I think he's got a very

:40:46. > :40:50.good chance. He ran a decent race at Doncaster. I just hope he wins.

:40:50. > :40:53.What advice do you give him, because you and your son, Peter,

:40:53. > :40:58.between you rode so many times, I think this is Tom's 13th ride today,

:40:58. > :41:03.so maybe he doesn't need it. What do you tell him? I think if he

:41:03. > :41:08.wakes up this morning and God says he's going to win. He will. If God

:41:08. > :41:13.says he wouldn't, he wouldn't. 16 years consecutive is still a

:41:13. > :41:19.record. I think so. Were you ever dodgy injury-wise and thought you

:41:19. > :41:29.would never make it? A couple of times I thought I wouldn't make it.

:41:29. > :41:30.

:41:30. > :41:33.The hard part was getting there. The only time I relaxed was the

:41:33. > :41:37.last hurdle in the race before. That's a good point, because Ruby

:41:37. > :41:41.Walsh had a bad fall early in the day and Barry Geraghty replaced him

:41:41. > :41:44.on Big Fella Thanks, so the jockeys riding in the first race, which is

:41:44. > :41:50.over hurdles, all of them and those who have rides, hoping that they

:41:50. > :41:55.just come home. They are making their way down to the start for

:41:55. > :42:05.this the first of the live professional races. Here's Jim with

:42:05. > :42:05.

:42:05. > :42:51.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

:42:51. > :43:01.It's all about one horse, Simonsig. The bookies went one to two.

:43:01. > :43:05.Ladbrokes went in. You see them betting at 1- -- 1-2. Solid, John.

:43:05. > :43:08.Usually this week at Aintree one of the rules to follow is don't back

:43:08. > :43:12.Festival winners because they don't come here and win, but that's been

:43:12. > :43:16.overturned. We have had tonnes of Festival winners following up.

:43:16. > :43:21.Richard, maybe that's why there's so much confidence in Simonsig?

:43:21. > :43:26.think so, Clare. It's been later this year. It makes such a big

:43:26. > :43:31.difference. Four weeks? Yeah. Simonsig, fab it's tick in the

:43:31. > :43:40.Neptune. -- fantastic in the Neptune. The only thing he was

:43:40. > :43:46.beaten was behind Thingall Bay. Nicky Henderson won this race with

:43:46. > :43:50.Spirit Son. There is AP. He had a winner in the first yesterday. He

:43:50. > :43:55.was in these colours. He's riding for Tim Vaughan. I think they've

:43:55. > :44:00.got a really good chance. He's unboughten in three? Tim Vaughan,

:44:00. > :44:07.really good trainer. Tim's on 99 winners for the season, so this

:44:07. > :44:11.would be the 100th. Fantastic to do here. I think he may struggle. This

:44:11. > :44:16.horse won at Donny with Will Kennedy in the plate. He beat many

:44:16. > :44:26.there. He has won at Hexham and an Exeter bumper and he will be one

:44:26. > :44:29.

:44:29. > :44:32.for the frame. We see Super Duty with the grey disc on the back.

:44:32. > :44:39.Superduty has won all four completed starts. Would have gone

:44:39. > :44:43.close, but tipped up. Very heavy fall up at Ayr. Really nice staying

:44:43. > :44:47.chaser in the making according to Donald. That was good at Ascot.

:44:47. > :44:54.would expect him making the running, Super Duty. Colour Squadron for

:44:54. > :45:04.Philip Hobbs. He finished 13th behind Cinders And Ashes at

:45:04. > :45:05.

:45:05. > :45:10.Cheltenham. He also fell behind horses at Newbury, but he was

:45:10. > :45:14.cantering and he has run well elsewhere. They are going to jog in

:45:14. > :45:24.and come into the start. Jason Maguire is up at the front. We'll

:45:24. > :45:25.

:45:25. > :45:31.hand over to Jim. They are coming in for the first race proper.

:45:31. > :45:35.They're lining up. They're coming in. They're off and running. On the

:45:35. > :45:41.inside, first away is Super Duty. Goes on for Jason Maguire. Leads by

:45:41. > :45:44.a couple of lengths, to in second, Go All The Way. Then up in third,

:45:44. > :45:47.Aland Islands in the white cap, out deeper on the track with Maggio.

:45:47. > :45:51.They draw to the first of eleven flights and they are all over

:45:51. > :45:57.safely. Back on the inside, Old Tricks. Simonsig, the odds-on

:45:57. > :46:04.favourite, the grey in sixth on the outside. Right there in the centre

:46:04. > :46:08.is Baby Shine and Molotof and at the end, Flycorn. Flycorn just a

:46:08. > :46:12.little bit sloppy there. On the inside, though, showing the way

:46:12. > :46:15.down the back, Super Duty. Out in front by a length-and-a-half to in

:46:15. > :46:19.second, Go All The Way and third on the outside is Maggio, as they

:46:19. > :46:22.prepare to leave the back. Half a length is Old Tricks on the inside

:46:22. > :46:26.from Aland Islands held up in the centre. The red cap of Simonsig

:46:26. > :46:31.around the outside and the diamond jacket as they head up the inside.

:46:31. > :46:36.Then Baby Shine on the inside. Further back is Flycorn and colour

:46:36. > :46:42.Squadron, one of the two JP McManus-owned runners at the back.

:46:42. > :46:46.Coming to the entrance to the home straight and the leader is Super

:46:46. > :46:50.Duty. Jason rides Ballabriggs, last year's winner later today in the

:46:50. > :46:54.big one. In second place is Go All The Way. Andrew Lynch will be on

:46:54. > :46:59.Treacle. In third is Maggio, ridden by James Reveley, who is aboard

:46:59. > :47:03.Always Right in the National. Simonsig just rapped that hard and

:47:03. > :47:08.got in too close. Landed over it safely for Barry Geraghty, who

:47:08. > :47:13.rides Shakalakaboomboom. Further back in the field is Old Tricks on

:47:13. > :47:20.the inside of Aland Islands and Tony McCoy, wearing the colours

:47:20. > :47:24.that he'll wear on Synchronised later on. On the inside, superduty

:47:24. > :47:29.showing the way. Accompanied on the outside by go all the way, as they

:47:29. > :47:33.clear that way. Back in the field, Old Tricks wasn't too fluent. Got

:47:34. > :47:39.in a fraction tight. Super Duty on the inside of Go All The Way. Then

:47:39. > :47:45.Simonsig, who crosses in third. A length further back is Aland

:47:45. > :47:48.Islands scraping paint for McCoy. Then Maggio, followed by Baby Shine.

:47:48. > :47:53.Two lengths away is Flycorn as they swing out with a circuit to go. Old

:47:53. > :47:58.Tricks, who is second-last from Molotof and last is colour Squadron.

:47:58. > :48:05.The tempo increases. They Ted to the back for the final time. They

:48:05. > :48:08.are almost back where they skparted. Super Duty shows the way to --

:48:08. > :48:13.started. Super Duty shows the way to Go All The Way. Simonsig further

:48:13. > :48:22.back, who is travelling kindly. Back in fourth, on the inside,

:48:22. > :48:25.alland alloonds. -- Aland Islands. Flycorn back in the field. Molotof

:48:25. > :48:31.behind them from Old Tricks and colour Squadron now starting to

:48:31. > :48:36.improve. They head down to the middle one down the back. Seventh

:48:36. > :48:41.coming up. It's Super Duty on the inside. Comes towards it and gets

:48:41. > :48:46.over it. They all clear it well. Go All The Way in a challenging

:48:46. > :48:49.position. Applying more pressure. Simonsig biding his time. Then

:48:49. > :48:54.Aland Islands niggling on the inside as they come to the eighth.

:48:54. > :48:59.The leader got over well. The race is about to unfold. They prepare to

:48:59. > :49:04.leave the back. It's Super Duty and Jason Maguire, two in front of Go

:49:04. > :49:09.All The Way on the outside. Simonsig has had a perfect run.

:49:09. > :49:18.Baby Shine and Aland Islands coming under pressure and passed by the

:49:18. > :49:21.other McManus runner, colour Squadron. Molotof is back and

:49:21. > :49:25.dropping back is Maggio. Racing to the entrance to the home straight.

:49:25. > :49:33.Super Duty kicking for home. Simonsig looming large. A length

:49:33. > :49:36.away is Baby Shine running a great race for Leighton Aspell. They've

:49:36. > :49:39.kicked away from Go All The Way. Into the home straight now. Three

:49:39. > :49:44.to jump. On the inside, Super Duty coming to the third last. Gets over

:49:44. > :49:48.it. The faller there, colour Squadron. He's down. Richard

:49:48. > :49:52.Johnson on the floor. They race up now with two left to jump. It's

:49:52. > :49:55.Super Duty on the far side. Simonsig on the near side. Mistake

:49:55. > :50:00.there by Super Duty. He went right down on his nose. All but sold out

:50:00. > :50:06.and lost his chance now, as Simonsig starts to draw away for

:50:06. > :50:10.Geraghty. Comes to the last. Spring heeled at it. Seven in front and

:50:10. > :50:17.careering away. Simonsig, who was so impressive at Cheltenham and

:50:17. > :50:21.winning the Neptune, is going to career away with the Mersey Novices

:50:21. > :50:28.Huddle. He wins it in a canter. Geraghty is on Shakalakaboomboom in

:50:28. > :50:32.the National later on today. In second, is Super Duty. What a

:50:32. > :50:36.costly blunder. In third was Baby Shine, followed in fourth by

:50:36. > :50:46.Flycorn. Then Molotof, followed by Go All The Way and there followed

:50:46. > :50:52.

:50:52. > :50:59.by Maggio. They are the only Richard Johnson up on his feet and

:50:59. > :51:04.leading back colour Squadron. They both appear to be OK. AP McCoy and

:51:04. > :51:09.Old Tricks were pulled up. We'll check the one, two, three. Simonsig,

:51:10. > :51:13.Barry Geraghty, number nine, Super Duty, Jason Maguire, third, ten,

:51:13. > :51:20.Baby Shine, Leighton Aspell and fourth, Flycorn, who ran on well

:51:20. > :51:25.for Paul town end. -- Townend. Barry is here with me now. Great

:51:25. > :51:30.performance again by Simonsig. Just how good is this horse? He's as

:51:30. > :51:34.good as he looks. He hosed up there. Done everything so easily. We were

:51:34. > :51:40.probably going too slow. He missed the second last. I didn't want to

:51:40. > :51:43.be setting sail too early. Really, he wants a fence. Would you be

:51:43. > :51:47.advising next season just go straight over fences and no

:51:47. > :51:52.hurdles? I don't think Nicky will need much advice. He's a real

:51:52. > :51:57.chaser, but jumps well. He can be a little careless. He'll had more

:51:57. > :52:03.respect for fences. Sprinter Sacre, Finian's Rainbow and him over

:52:03. > :52:07.fences, it doesn't get better than that, did it? No, definitely not.

:52:07. > :52:15.This one would be good over horses and Finian's Rainbow has done what

:52:15. > :52:18.he's done. It's a great position. Well done. Thank you. Nicky

:52:18. > :52:24.Henderson is we me now. You have so many good horses and this cob a

:52:24. > :52:29.Very Special One? He's really good, isn't he? He's always looked it all

:52:29. > :52:36.year, to be fair. You have to go back - I wasn't happy with him at

:52:36. > :52:40.Sandown. He was beaten by fing albay and in fairness -- Fingal Bay

:52:40. > :52:43.and it looked as if we were going all over him. He's a very good

:52:43. > :52:49.horse, but we put him away and started again and he's been so good

:52:49. > :52:52.since then. Real class. Very quickly for everybody looking for

:52:52. > :52:58.the Grand National, Shakalakaboomboom, confident,

:52:58. > :53:02.hopeful? He's fine. I'm staggered with his price. I think it's the

:53:02. > :53:09.mystery of the name. You are training him. It's nothing to do

:53:09. > :53:12.with him. He doesn't go any faster for me. He's a very realistic Grand

:53:12. > :53:16.National horse, if you know what I mean. He's very straightforward.

:53:16. > :53:21.He's been around here in the top hall, which wasn't far enough for

:53:21. > :53:25.him. Ground is great. -- Topham, which wasn't far enough for him.

:53:25. > :53:29.Ground is great, nice weight. He's a live chance, but he's horribly

:53:29. > :53:35.short in the prices. He can't help that and neither can you. I'm sure

:53:35. > :53:39.we'll be talking to you later on. Thank you. There's the best sight

:53:39. > :53:44.of all. Richard Johnson walking back with Colour Squadron, both

:53:44. > :53:48.unharmed after the fall. Richard will be on Planet Of Sound in the

:53:49. > :53:52.Grand National. A hugely impressive win by Simonsig coming down to the

:53:52. > :53:57.second last. Super Duty was doing his best and I wasn't sure Barry

:53:57. > :54:01.saw this, but helped by the fact that Super Duty nods on his head.

:54:01. > :54:05.Fantastic recovery there from Jason Maguire, but Barry was almost

:54:05. > :54:08.trying hard to hold Simonsig he was so strong. Barry said he wanted to

:54:08. > :54:16.put him in the bottom. He didn't want to jump it too well and being

:54:16. > :54:20.in front too long. He's missed it, but hasn't Jase oon -- Jason done

:54:20. > :54:25.very well. Incredibly balance. The horse's head has knocked him back

:54:26. > :54:33.in again. Just given him a bit of a hand. It just shows amazing, the

:54:33. > :54:37.horse to get a leg out so quick. Lovely size of horse. Real machine.

:54:37. > :54:41.The hardest thing in the race, but he missed a couple because he's

:54:41. > :54:45.going too well. The first in the straight, but out the back he's up

:54:45. > :54:50.the heels of the winner. That was the hardest job to hold him there.

:54:50. > :54:54.So interesting what he said, he'll show more respect when jumping

:54:54. > :55:04.proper fences and they'll combine with Sprinter Sacre in the next,

:55:04. > :55:21.

:55:21. > :55:25.who is another hugely exciting You may have heard a huge roar and

:55:25. > :55:28.that's because a lot of them have half an eye on the FA Cup semi-

:55:28. > :55:33.final and I understand that Liverpool have equalised. That's

:55:33. > :55:40.what the big cheer was. Obviously the crowd split. The Liverpool ones

:55:40. > :55:44.are roaring loudest with that. Huge crowd here and in among them 94-

:55:44. > :55:47.year-old Sir Peter O'Sullevan, a man who commentated on so many

:55:47. > :55:55.races for the BBC and enjoying his retirement and still going racing

:55:55. > :55:58.as often as he can and he drives to Paris to watch the Arc. He'll be

:55:58. > :56:02.watching this race with real interest. We'll give you the second

:56:02. > :56:10.section of runners and riders. We are working our way up the weights,

:56:10. > :56:15.so we now take you from number 29 to number 20. We are going through

:56:15. > :56:19.them in reverse order, as Clare says. Number 30 is

:56:19. > :56:27.Becauseicouldntsee. Fell at the second fence in last year's Grand

:56:27. > :56:33.National. Owner Noel Glyn from Ireland. Number 29 is Tharawaat.

:56:33. > :56:38.Gordon, the trainer, won the race in his first year as a trainer.

:56:38. > :56:42.Number 28 Quiscover Fontaine, who stays and jumps well. Fourth in the

:56:42. > :56:46.Irish National. David Casey, 13th National ride. Then Killyglen from

:56:46. > :56:52.Northern Ireland. Going well when he fell four out in last year's

:56:52. > :56:59.National. Robbie qup power rides. - - Power rides. Then Sunnyhillboy.

:56:59. > :57:07.One of four runners for JP and Ritchie Mclernon in the saddle.

:57:07. > :57:14.Then Arbor Supreme. 24 is Mon Mome. Running in his fourth Grand

:57:14. > :57:21.National. Won in 2009 at 100-1. Aiden Coleman. 23 is The Midnight

:57:21. > :57:25.Club, sixth in Ballabriggs' Grand National last year. Number 22 is

:57:25. > :57:33.Treacle, who was third in the Irish Hennessy recently. Targeting this

:57:33. > :57:36.race all year. Andrew Lynch. 21 Organisedconfusion. Can Nina beat

:57:36. > :57:42.her sister-in-law, Katie Walsh to the honour to become the first

:57:43. > :57:46.woman to win the Grand National? are here in the jockeys' changing

:57:46. > :57:50.room and look at the kit back in the day when Richard was finishing

:57:50. > :57:55.second. He finished second on this saddle. He also finished second on

:57:55. > :58:01.that slightly bigger one. There's not a lot. It's lather and a bit of

:58:01. > :58:06.metal. That would float. I wouldn't fancy riding that in the Grand

:58:06. > :58:10.National. I would be safer. This is a modern one. Same weight, lot more

:58:10. > :58:14.substance and a lot easier to sit on this one than on that one.

:58:14. > :58:20.Interesting, the irons have changed. That is some sort of Vulcanite.

:58:20. > :58:26.carbon fibre. This is the new, modern helmet. Plenty of protection

:58:26. > :58:29.for your head. This was on the winner in 1960. No chin straps.

:58:29. > :58:31.Anything like that. Look at that. I don't know that would give you too

:58:31. > :58:35.much protection. Health and insurance these days would be

:58:35. > :58:40.difficult. With these, they fly off when you hit a fence and you were

:58:40. > :58:45.in the air, this would be in front of you. Over to Jamie Moore who

:58:45. > :58:53.rides in the Grand National. How do you fancy on that saddle, wearing

:58:53. > :58:56.that hat? I would rather be on the BMX with that hat on at home. It

:58:56. > :59:02.looks like it could fall apart. The Antiques Roadshow is on tomorrow

:59:02. > :59:06.night. Put it on there. It's worth a few quid. It is. It's crazy.

:59:06. > :59:09.Things should move forward and health and safety is paramount. We

:59:09. > :59:13.did have jockeys in my day with head injuries and I know there are

:59:13. > :59:19.still a few now. Safety is paramount. They do everything here

:59:19. > :59:29.to try to make sure. What a great place to be in here. This is it.

:59:29. > :59:36.

:59:36. > :59:40.Makey feel young? Oh, yes. -- make you feel young? Oh, yes. Seabass is

:59:40. > :59:46.a forerunner. A lot of people have huge belief in this horse, who is

:59:46. > :59:52.unbeaten in seven starts since January 2010. The women getting the

:59:52. > :59:55.lep-up is Katie Walsh -- leg-up is Katie Walsh. Ted is very, very

:59:55. > :00:05.hopeful that the horse could do the same. We have been to Ireland to

:00:05. > :00:08.

:00:08. > :00:14.Alongside elite jockey Ruby is Katie, seeking to win today's

:00:14. > :00:17.National with Seabass. The head of the dynasty father Ted. Ruby's high

:00:17. > :00:22.profile Because of his success. We're just proud to be his parents.

:00:22. > :00:26.But I wouldn't call it a dynasty. That's a bit strong. Young Katie

:00:26. > :00:30.here, come ago long, she's done us proud as well. She's enjoying it.

:00:30. > :00:34.The main thing is they really love what they're doing. I'm delighted

:00:34. > :00:38.she's turned out to be such a fine rider. I'm delighted as well that

:00:38. > :00:43.she love what's she's doing. If you don't love sport, with the amount

:00:43. > :00:49.of hours, the punishment and disappointment, and can't be upset

:00:49. > :00:53.when you get beat and delighted when you win, it's no good.

:00:53. > :00:57.good is he for advice? Brilliant. Sometimes too strong! It's great. I

:00:57. > :01:03.still pick up the phone and I ring him, even though I know what he's

:01:03. > :01:07.going to say. The family won the 2,000 National on the Ruby ridden

:01:07. > :01:12.and Ted trained Papillon. I brought him over on the box. I was 15 at

:01:12. > :01:17.the time. We went over on the box and I looked after him. I led him

:01:17. > :01:24.up and everything like that. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable

:01:24. > :01:31.experience. I can remember it as clear as day. It was amazing.

:01:31. > :01:35.Cried? Much. We all cried. COMMENTATOR: Papillon shows the way.

:01:35. > :01:40.To have Papillon there, Ruby on board, I was hoping he would have a

:01:40. > :01:45.good ride. For it to fit into place, it was fairy-tale stuff. He rounded

:01:45. > :01:49.the bend, and I could cry talking about it.

:01:49. > :01:53.COMMENTATOR: 507 yards left to go and Papillon wins the Grand

:01:53. > :01:56.National for Ruby Walsh and Ted Walsh. This time it's the father

:01:56. > :02:03.and daughter combination seeking to triumph with Seabass, winner of his

:02:03. > :02:10.last seven races. He doesn't pull or haul. He's a lovely ride. He's

:02:10. > :02:16.got loads of scope. He's everything. I genuinely cannot wait to ride him.

:02:16. > :02:20.The trip, you wouldn't be sure if he's going to get it. He will

:02:20. > :02:28.either stay or he won't stay. She can't carry him and I can't make

:02:29. > :02:35.him stay. Katie wins the chase for her father Ted. Could it happen

:02:35. > :02:39.again? It would be magic. It's 25 years ago when Charlotte Prue

:02:39. > :02:47.became the First Lady to ride in the National. I remember National

:02:47. > :02:51.Velvet and Liz Taylor, her hair tied up so she looked like a boy. I

:02:51. > :02:55.remember that film well. It's fairy-tale stuff. I'd love to get

:02:55. > :03:00.round. I'd love to be lucky, just love to have a bit of luck. I think

:03:00. > :03:03.you need a bit of luck. Some people talk about winning, but to be part

:03:03. > :03:08.of this great occasion, it's part of history. If you're a racing

:03:08. > :03:11.person, from the time you're knee high it a grasshopper, English

:03:12. > :03:16.National, you talk about Becher's Brook or Canal Turn, they're famous

:03:16. > :03:23.names. You just want to be part of this great occasion. I hope she has

:03:24. > :03:29.a great experience. And down in the stables, far away from it all is

:03:29. > :03:34.Seabass, nine years old. He's carrying ten stone 12, that's a

:03:34. > :03:40.great weight. He is 10-1 great favourite. He will give Katie the

:03:40. > :03:44.most fabulous ride round here. There she is in the ladies' jockey

:03:44. > :03:48.room. Nice for them to have some company, you're normally on your

:03:48. > :03:53.own. We'll talk to them in a moment. We'll explain the connection

:03:53. > :03:57.between the families. Concentrate. Ted is married to Helen. They have

:03:57. > :04:00.four children, Jennifer, who is agent to Ruby, Katie, who is riding

:04:00. > :04:04.in the race and her brother little Ted married to Nina Carberry. Nina

:04:04. > :04:12.is riding in the race. Her brother also riding called Paul Carberry.

:04:12. > :04:18.Their father is Tommy. Tommy won the race on L'escargot in 1975

:04:18. > :04:22.trained by Dan Moore, who trains Organisedconfusion and also is her

:04:22. > :04:26.uncle. I realise it sounds like Organisedconfusion. Good luck to

:04:26. > :04:31.both of you and talk to you in a minute. In a meantime we will look

:04:31. > :04:37.at the fences they will be facing. You heard about Becher's Brook ab

:04:37. > :04:42.the angle for the canal turn. Mick Fitzgerald did it extremely well.

:04:42. > :04:46.Let's hear from him. The start of the John Smith's Grand

:04:46. > :04:50.National, the most crucial part of the race, why should it be? You

:04:50. > :04:53.have four-and-a-half miles to go, all the lads are here Jockying for

:04:53. > :04:58.position. It's mayhem, chaos. They'll have one eye on the starter,

:04:58. > :05:01.just looking for any signal he's going let them go. The first

:05:01. > :05:05.problem is down there. Jockeys often get caught up in the charge

:05:05. > :05:10.often get caught up in the charge to the first, which causes fallers.

:05:10. > :05:14.There's a massive ditch, a huge challenge for the horses. Then at

:05:14. > :05:17.the top of the straight another major hazard. We've come down to

:05:17. > :05:22.fence number six, Becher's Brook, probably the most famous fence on

:05:22. > :05:27.the course, apart from being at a slight angle, it looks a nothing

:05:27. > :05:31.fence. That is, until you get to the other side. Horses are caught

:05:31. > :05:36.out by the lower landing platform which causes many to tip up. The

:05:36. > :05:41.drop is less pronounced on the outside of the track. We're right

:05:41. > :05:46.down the inside, brave man's route here. The drop is quite dramatic

:05:46. > :05:49.compared to the outside. They've filled in the Brook over the years

:05:49. > :05:54.so horses can't roll back in and the turf is levelled to make it

:05:54. > :05:58.easier, but still a formidable obstacle. Next up is Foinavon.

:05:58. > :06:04.Clear that fence and the field approaches the Canal Turn on the

:06:04. > :06:09.racing line that you can see marked out here in green. The reason you

:06:09. > :06:16.see the field go out to come back in and jump at an angle is, if you

:06:16. > :06:20.jump it straight, you land here. You're going there. Valentine's,

:06:20. > :06:26.the first of four five-foot fence that's make up the back stretch.

:06:26. > :06:31.Here the race begins to settle down a little. Negotiate the big pair of

:06:31. > :06:34.ditches and there's a huge intake of breath without any jumps, during

:06:34. > :06:38.which you cross the road and turn back towards the stands. The race

:06:38. > :06:45.picks up again as the runners head towards another serious obstacle

:06:45. > :06:54.The Chair. The biggest fence on the course, does size matter? Yes, it

:06:54. > :07:00.does. The problem is this: I'm here in the ditch, where the horses have

:07:00. > :07:06.to take off from is out here. That's 11 foot to clear, add in the

:07:06. > :07:10.height, this is a huge jump. They do it all again on the second

:07:10. > :07:16.circuit. Before the leaders try to jump the last in the middle of the

:07:16. > :07:25.fence to get the best position at the Elbow. You need to get on this

:07:25. > :07:29.running belt. This guides you home, a place in history awaits. Patience

:07:29. > :07:33.is the key. It's a long run from the last to the line. A lot of them

:07:33. > :07:39.waiting, because they don't have a ride in earlier races, waiting as

:07:39. > :07:43.the clock ticks down. We thought we'd give thm a chance to laugh at

:07:43. > :07:45.themselves by asking pretty stupid questions. The latest is "What's

:07:45. > :07:53.the worst chat-up line you've ever the worst chat-up line you've ever

:07:53. > :07:58.heard?" Chat up lines wouldn't be my strong point. Get your coat

:07:58. > :08:04.you've pulled. I'm not experienced enough. A few I couldn't say.

:08:04. > :08:09.your coat, you've pulled. Do you come here often? Is your father a

:08:09. > :08:16.thief, because he must have stolen the stars from the skies and put

:08:16. > :08:22.them in your eyes. Pass. Do you like jewellery? How do you like

:08:22. > :08:26.your eggs? I don't remember. Mine's a peach, do you like to taste it.

:08:26. > :08:33.It's been so long since I've used or heard one I don't know.

:08:33. > :08:36.deadpan reply there from Ruby Walsh. His sister Katie and her best

:08:36. > :08:41.friend and sister-in-law Nina Carberry have joined me here. You

:08:41. > :08:45.must be getting excited about this. Seabass is all the rage. I know,

:08:45. > :08:50.yeah. Sure, it's great. I'd love to get round. It would be fantastic.

:08:50. > :08:54.Can't wait to get out there. Nina, a terrific record. I've had a few

:08:54. > :08:57.nice spins around, hopefully be lucky enough to get around again,

:08:57. > :09:03.it would be nice. You've got to think Organisedconfusion, the good

:09:03. > :09:07.thing you know he stays. Exactly. He's a bit on the young side, but I

:09:07. > :09:11.think he was able for it at six to go that distance, hopefully he's a

:09:11. > :09:15.year stronger and hopefully we'll get around first and he'll be good

:09:15. > :09:18.enough at end. It's pretty cold isn't it? Yeah, I'd like your

:09:18. > :09:22.jacket. I made the right decision. Have the two of you walked the

:09:22. > :09:29.course today or did you do it earlier in the week? I walk today

:09:29. > :09:32.on Thursday with Ruby and again today with Ross. Ted and Nina as

:09:32. > :09:37.well. There's two families come together because of you marrying

:09:37. > :09:42.Ted, are you staying in the same place? We're all staying in the

:09:42. > :09:45.Holly inn, my mum and dad have come over just today. They didn't stay.

:09:45. > :09:50.You've had terrific family experiences with the race as well.

:09:50. > :09:56.We know about Papillon and you leading him up, but for you, Bobby

:09:56. > :09:58.Joe was the year. Yeah it was brilliant, amazing, the stuff of

:09:58. > :10:04.dreams. It's absolutely unbelievable. You can't describe

:10:04. > :10:08.what it feels like to ride in it, I remember my first year riding, I

:10:08. > :10:14.nearly was crying coming down, I couldn't believe I was riding him.

:10:14. > :10:19.It's brilliant. I was saying how much more fun to have Kateing with

:10:19. > :10:22.you in the changing room. Yeah it was pretty lonely the last few

:10:22. > :10:26.years. It's great to have Katie there. The two of us have good

:10:26. > :10:30.rides this year. Will you keep near each other in the race itself?

:10:31. > :10:35.don't know, I think we'll be looking after ourselves. If we end

:10:35. > :10:40.up sides, we end up sides. I won't be looking for you and she won't be

:10:40. > :10:44.looking for me. She's been around three times, maybe I should be

:10:44. > :10:48.following her. You have to enjoy it. It's so exciting for both of you,

:10:48. > :10:52.proper chances in the National. That's the big difference. In the

:10:52. > :10:57.old days, if there were women riders they were riding 100-1 shots.

:10:57. > :11:02.You have serious chances. Enjoy it, good luck to you. Thank you. Thank

:11:02. > :11:07.you to Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh. Ruby is involved in the next

:11:07. > :11:10.race, a small field of just four including the superstar novice

:11:10. > :11:14.chaser Sprinter Sacre who will be a warm order to win this impressively.

:11:14. > :11:17.Here's Jim. Certainly will be a warm order.

:11:17. > :11:27.What a horse he is. What a horse What a horse he is. What a horse

:11:27. > :11:59.

:11:59. > :12:09.here. Surely no-one's going to back that. 2 -13, you know what that

:12:09. > :12:10.

:12:10. > :12:18.means you lay on �13 and if it wins, you get �2. I think tutu will be

:12:18. > :12:23.second. I'm going for Sprinter Sacre. Two to 13, terrible. This is

:12:23. > :12:27.Sprinter Sacre coming out onto the course. He's only been beaten twice

:12:27. > :12:32.in his rear. Unbeaten in four starts over fences. He has looked

:12:32. > :12:36.spectacular. He went for home a long way out in the Arkle at

:12:36. > :12:43.Cheltenham. It's very hard to see him being beaten here. I'm sure

:12:43. > :12:47.he's a horse that you love to ride. I love to sit on and reminds me of

:12:47. > :12:51.Remittance Man. He was on springs. I bet Barry had the same feeling

:12:51. > :12:56.when he schooled this horse the first time as well. I believe

:12:56. > :12:59.you've seen this horse school, haven't you? He is just

:12:59. > :13:03.unbelievable. He is and Nicky Henderson, I've known him for a

:13:03. > :13:07.long time, even since the Remittance Man days. This horse is

:13:07. > :13:14.the first since him I've seen him get really excited about. And the

:13:14. > :13:17.added interest there for Nicky Henderson is that he's about �250

:13:17. > :13:21.behind Paul Nicholls to be the champion trainer. This race is

:13:21. > :13:28.worth �56,000 and change to the winner. He is 13-2 on this horse.

:13:28. > :13:32.If you put on �13, you will get that back and �2 more. Put it into

:13:32. > :13:37.perspective, Big Bucks won the other day, a horse who broke that

:13:37. > :13:42.record, standing since the 50s. He was 1-5. This is a shorter price.

:13:42. > :13:50.This is a novice chase. This horse isn't as big a certainty as he was.

:13:50. > :13:53.This is the one Gary thinks will finish second or if anything went

:13:53. > :13:59.wrong to Sprinter Sacre will benefit. He was brought down last

:13:59. > :14:02.time. Yes he wasn't too fluent that day. He won a Sandown novice in

:14:02. > :14:05.February. But certainly if anything happened to go wrong with the

:14:05. > :14:08.favourite he'd be there, you'd think, the one to pick up the

:14:08. > :14:13.pieces. Paul Nicholls with four winners and four seconds in this

:14:13. > :14:17.race in the last ten years. Nicky hen dor son won it last year with

:14:17. > :14:24.Finian's Rainbow who won the Melling Chase yesterday. We have

:14:24. > :14:28.two greys in the race. The other Australia Day. This horse likes to

:14:28. > :14:32.whiz along as well. Barry will be pleased to see this horse in the

:14:32. > :14:36.field with print print. He's just got such a high cruising speed. Can

:14:36. > :14:41.you see him being led by Gerry, to make sure this horse jumps offment

:14:41. > :14:46.he's been reluctant in the past. Nice free going sort and jumps well.

:14:46. > :14:56.Another front runner is Kudu Country, maybe both of them will be

:14:56. > :14:56.

:14:56. > :15:00.in front. He won in February. He was second to Eradicate. He barely

:15:00. > :15:04.gets the trip, he wouldn't want an extended two miles. It will suit

:15:04. > :15:08.him round here. All in all, we're expecting what the bookmakers

:15:08. > :15:13.predict, an impressive win for Sprinter Sacre. According to the

:15:13. > :15:17.bookmakers he's almost home and hosed. Two miles round this tight

:15:17. > :15:22.course. It's a flat course here at Aintree, very, very different from

:15:22. > :15:26.Cheltenham. It will be interesting to see how he cope was that. Jim

:15:26. > :15:33.McGrath, just academically an interesting race?

:15:33. > :15:38.They've still got to jump them. So they come out. We have three

:15:38. > :15:44.greys here. They're lining up. They're set to go. Off and running

:15:44. > :15:47.in the John Smith's Maghull novices chase. Australia Day in the lead

:15:47. > :15:50.from Sprinter Sacre and on the outside Kudu Country. They come to

:15:50. > :15:54.the first across fence and Australia Day right out to his

:15:54. > :16:01.right. Very eradic and he almost ran off the course. He almost

:16:01. > :16:06.missed that rail. So a bit of drama early. Dennis O'reeingan great

:16:06. > :16:08.horsemanship to get the horse back on the track. He leads by two

:16:08. > :16:14.lengths. Sprinter Sacre missed that trouble fortunately for those

:16:14. > :16:20.who've laid the 7-1 on. They come to the second. The leaders jump it

:16:20. > :16:23.OK. Slight mistake by Kudu Country. Still out to his right this

:16:23. > :16:27.Australia. Let's see how he handles the first open ditch right out to

:16:27. > :16:31.his right. He's losing ground every time he comes to it. Toubab wasn't

:16:31. > :16:36.fluent at all. That was in third, the yellow jacket with the blue

:16:36. > :16:40.spots. Out the back is Kudu Country. So up the home straight on the

:16:40. > :16:44.first occasion, Barry Geraghty on the favourite will be all the time

:16:45. > :16:49.watching, hoping that he can manage to stay on the right side of him.

:16:49. > :16:53.Let's go to the next one and they get over it safely. Australia Day

:16:53. > :16:57.still again dramatically veering out to his right. But he still

:16:58. > :17:04.leads by three paths to Sprinter Sacre, the long odds-on favourite

:17:04. > :17:08.in second, who's cantoring. He wants to go faster. He's a bit

:17:08. > :17:12.fierce. Two lengths away, Toubab and Kudu Country at the rear of the

:17:12. > :17:17.field. It's 51 years since a grey won the Grand National. We've got

:17:17. > :17:20.four greys in the big one later on today. Three greys in this race. At

:17:20. > :17:24.the moment, they are liing in first, third and fourth position. Heading

:17:24. > :17:28.into the back, Australia Day, let's see how he handles this one and

:17:28. > :17:33.Barry Geraghty sticking on his inside as they clear that rail by

:17:33. > :17:38.three lengths to Toubab and two away is Kudu Country at the rear.

:17:38. > :17:44.Geraghty will let him stride on the favourite, I'd say here, as they

:17:44. > :17:48.head up towards the sixth. He has to let him go. He's racing fiercely,

:17:48. > :17:51.but he's still doing it quite within himself. He wants to go

:17:51. > :17:56.faster. They come to this second open ditch. He's very keen,

:17:56. > :18:01.Sprinter Sacre. He comes towards it and pops over it. Described as a

:18:01. > :18:07.black aeroplane, one of the most exciting horses Nicky Henderson has

:18:07. > :18:11.ever had. He's giving us a thrill a min the. He clears the eighth.

:18:11. > :18:16.Toubab in second, Australia Day third. That effort of veering right

:18:16. > :18:21.has taken its toll. Kudu Country at the rear of the field. Racing

:18:21. > :18:28.across the top with four left to jump, Sprinter Sacre, an aerial

:18:28. > :18:31.view, he's seven lengths in front of Toubab. They come towards the

:18:31. > :18:35.cross-fence. He wasn't that fluent at it the leader, no damage done at

:18:35. > :18:40.all. They round the turn now, Toubab still going pretty well in

:18:40. > :18:44.second. They round the corner now. Sprinter Sacre yet to be asked a

:18:44. > :18:49.serious question. Strides into the straight with three fence as head

:18:49. > :18:54.of him. He leads by four lengths to Toubab. He's over it well. He's

:18:54. > :19:00.away from it quickly. Geraghty is getting the response he wants. He

:19:00. > :19:05.looks around. He can see Toubab falling a-- four lengths away.

:19:05. > :19:09.Sprinter Sacre, he leapt that well. A mistake there by Toubab, who

:19:09. > :19:14.crashed through it. A long gap to Australia Day and Kudu Country. One

:19:14. > :19:17.left to jump. Sprinter Sacre he's five lengths in front, a long run

:19:17. > :19:22.before reaching the last. Sprinter Sacre in front with ears pricked.

:19:22. > :19:25.He draws towards the last for Barry Geraghty. He talks off. He's fluent

:19:25. > :19:30.over it and home for all money. It's Sprinter Sacre who comes up to

:19:30. > :19:34.the line, one of the most exciting novice chasers we've seen for many

:19:34. > :19:38.years, maybe two decades, as he comes up to the line, Sprinter

:19:38. > :19:43.Sacre wins the Maghull novices chase in great style, as he likes

:19:43. > :19:46.from Toubab in second, a long gap, Kudu Country in third and Australia

:19:46. > :19:51.Day, still veering out to his right as he crosses the line.

:19:51. > :19:57.The winner is number three, Sprinter Sacre, ridden by Barry

:19:57. > :20:04.Geraghty, trained by Nicky Henderson and in the colours of Mrs

:20:04. > :20:14.Carolyn Mull. Started at 7-1 on. Second Toubab, Ruby Walsh, third

:20:14. > :20:15.

:20:15. > :20:18.Kudu Country, James Reveley and fourth Australia Day Dennis O'Regan.

:20:18. > :20:22.He rides Shakalakaboomboom later on. And he's won in tremendous style

:20:22. > :20:25.and another valuable winner for and another valuable winner for

:20:25. > :20:31.Nicky Henderson. You look relieved at the moment. Your horse didn't

:20:31. > :20:35.have to exert himself, did he? been amazing all season. You're

:20:35. > :20:39.getting to the stage now where anything but perfection doesn't do,

:20:39. > :20:46.if you know what I mean? I think, he is spectacular. It's a joy to

:20:46. > :20:51.watch when it's over. You know, I said to Caroline before, it's been

:20:51. > :20:59.fun up to now. Now you've just got, it's not fun any more, it's

:20:59. > :21:03.frightening. You come to expect to see what, thankfully, we have seen

:21:03. > :21:08.again. He's just, frightening. must be extremely excited about

:21:08. > :21:15.what next season could hold for him? Yeah, he's growing up all the

:21:15. > :21:19.time. He can only get, I can't say better, but he can get stronger.

:21:19. > :21:23.He's getting sensible. His scope and his swagger about him is quite

:21:23. > :21:27.extraordinary. You've had a procession of top-class horses. Is

:21:27. > :21:29.there anything you can compare him to, to help us understand what he

:21:29. > :21:39.was like. I thought Finian's Rainbow was pretty good yesterday.

:21:39. > :21:39.

:21:39. > :21:46.He was! No, it's just he has this aura about him. We've always said,

:21:46. > :21:50.he knows he's very, very good looking, I suppose he does. All the

:21:50. > :21:55.good looking ones do. Just because they're beautiful horses doesn't

:21:55. > :22:00.always make them the best horses. It doesn't always apply. Here it

:22:00. > :22:04.really just does. Everything fits everywhere. And he has the

:22:04. > :22:09.athleticism and the attitude. I think attitude has a lot to do with

:22:09. > :22:13.it. There don't seem to be any flaws in him. It may be slightly su

:22:13. > :22:18.perve lus at the moment is he better than Finian's Rainbow?

:22:18. > :22:22.don't have to think about it now. We have a long summer, like

:22:22. > :22:27.Simonsig they're special horses so is Finian's Rainbow. They've done

:22:27. > :22:31.what they have to do here today. We can put them to bed and we've got a

:22:31. > :22:35.nice long summer to, so they can relax and we can dream. You're back

:22:35. > :22:39.in front in the championship race again. The next race will tell us a

:22:39. > :22:42.lot. Could you like last year, a great time to the start of Grand

:22:42. > :22:47.National day? Yeah, no, well these two have been a bit special. They

:22:48. > :22:52.are lovely young horses. Well done Nicky. Thanks. You could tell by

:22:52. > :22:56.the way Nicky was talking about this horse how much he thinks of

:22:56. > :23:01.him. Mick Barry's biggest challenge was hanging onto him, he was keen

:23:01. > :23:06.to go faster. Yeah he was. Australia Day dpbtd really happen.

:23:06. > :23:12.Nicky is desperate for that, get over the last fence. Until you have

:23:12. > :23:17.jumped them all, anything can happen. Viking Blond running in her

:23:17. > :23:24.colours in the National. Nicky Henderson back in front in the

:23:24. > :23:26.trainers championship, �34,000 ahead, the next race in which he

:23:26. > :23:30.rides Oscar Whiskey is worth rides Oscar Whiskey is worth

:23:30. > :23:35.�90,000 to the winner. Barry's having a look there, to make sure

:23:35. > :23:41.he has all the bases covered here, turning into the straight. He's far

:23:41. > :23:45.from home and hosed at this stage. Toubab is still on his tail. He

:23:45. > :23:48.didn't want -- doesn't want to tap the breaks too much. He will give

:23:48. > :23:52.the other horse too much to get into the race. You wonder what will

:23:52. > :23:56.happen when he really does have to be let down, when Barry has to get

:23:57. > :24:01.after him and his head has to come down and he's put under pressure?

:24:01. > :24:05.He won't. He doesn't have to be. He's broke the track record at

:24:05. > :24:09.Doncaster. Broke the record at Newbury. This is a classy horse. We

:24:09. > :24:13.haven't seen one take -- seen him off the bridle yet. A very exciting

:24:13. > :24:19.horse and a proud and pleased Barry Geraghty, having a very good start

:24:19. > :24:23.to the day. He's won the first two races on Simonsig and Sprinter

:24:23. > :24:28.Sacre trained by Nicky hen dor son. That's the team with

:24:28. > :24:33.Shakalakaboomboom in the big one. Great way to start the day,

:24:33. > :24:37.particularly a day as important as this. Barry Geraghty of course, a

:24:37. > :24:41.Grand National winning rider. Monty's Pass, not that long ago,

:24:41. > :24:46.was his winner. There's Sprinter Sacre. I thought today he got away

:24:46. > :24:52.from his fences particularly well, certainly over the last three.

:24:52. > :24:56.There was one or two that he wasn't perfect. As Nicky Henderson was

:24:56. > :25:02.saying, when you see a horse with this potential, with this exciting

:25:02. > :25:06.persona,if you like, as a novice chaser, you do think to yourself,

:25:06. > :25:10.you're expecting perfection all the time. He's still learning. He's

:25:10. > :25:15.still a novice. But he's come a long, long way. If he could just

:25:15. > :25:19.relax that little bit more in his races, he's going to be so much

:25:19. > :25:26.better, more effective. What a lovely head. He knows he's done a

:25:26. > :25:31.great job today. He knows well that he's won it. His trainers now in

:25:31. > :25:41.front of his rival Paul Nicholls as well. Let's have a look at the

:25:41. > :25:53.

:25:53. > :25:56.away against. Nb with that for a pound �2.38. Barry you've ridden

:25:56. > :26:06.tremendous horses in the past, he's gone to weigh in. I will wonder

:26:06. > :26:11.

:26:11. > :26:15.over here. His weight is 11.4. Spot on. I've given you the all clear.

:26:15. > :26:20.Many congratulations. Very easy, wasn't it? Yeah, I just said to

:26:20. > :26:23.Nicky, he's frighteningly good. Every jump was like a bungee jump.

:26:23. > :26:27.He frightens you when he does it, but you want to do it again. I've

:26:27. > :26:31.never ridden a horse with so much never ridden a horse with so much

:26:31. > :26:36.scope. He's unbelievable. Amazing to hear this from you, a man who

:26:36. > :26:40.has sat on some of the best two mile horses. Is he the best?

:26:40. > :26:44.can't say. Only time will tell. It's the way he jumps down the back,

:26:44. > :26:48.from fence to fence, he's, I don't think I've ridden a horse that

:26:48. > :26:53.jumps and travels the way he does. Hopefully he can be the best.

:26:53. > :26:58.put you in a great mood. A word about Shakalakaboomboom? Yeah he's

:26:58. > :27:04.got a good chance. You need a lot of luck. He jumped round here last

:27:04. > :27:08.year. I'm hopeful of a good run and hopefully might win or be placed.

:27:08. > :27:12.Show him a video of what Sprinter Sacre just did. Maybe! It would be

:27:12. > :27:15.good if you could show them videos and give them the experience of the

:27:15. > :27:19.Grand Nationals gone by. It is under two hours now, in fact in two

:27:19. > :27:25.hours' time we will know what has won this year's John Smith's Grand

:27:25. > :27:28.National. This is what's still to come: The only way of finding out

:27:28. > :27:33.what it's like to ride in the Grand National is talk to those who have.

:27:33. > :27:37.The jockeys give us the inside track on this unique course.

:27:37. > :27:40.We continue our Countdown through the field, all the way up to number

:27:40. > :27:47.one. That's where we find Synchronised, the winner of the

:27:47. > :27:52.Gold Cup. James May examines exactly what

:27:52. > :27:55.makes a great race horse, one who can stay four-and-a-half miles and

:27:55. > :27:59.jump 30 fences. And the one that does it best will

:27:59. > :28:04.be the one that passes the post in front in the John Smith's Grand

:28:04. > :28:10.National. The off time is 4.15pm. Last year, that horse was

:28:10. > :28:17.Ballabriggs, trained by Donald McCain. People afterwards renaming

:28:18. > :28:21.this place McAintree. Ginger McCain trained Red Rum. He won it three

:28:21. > :28:25.times. His son Donald won it last year. Ginger was here to witness

:28:26. > :28:30.that triumph. Sadly, he died in September last year. Now Ginger was

:28:30. > :28:34.a character, a joker, a man who liked to make headlines. He

:28:34. > :28:40.wouldn't want a morbid tribute piece. He would want his best lines

:28:40. > :28:43.to be remembered. I say nowadays, this lot, being old

:28:43. > :28:49.and rather long in the tooth, I can say this, you go in the weighing

:28:49. > :28:53.room now, it's like a bloody poof's paradise. They're all on their

:28:53. > :28:57.telefons and powdering their noses and bums and one thing and another.

:28:57. > :29:07.Of course he was my friend. It was the choice between him and my wife,

:29:07. > :29:10.

:29:10. > :29:13.COMMENTATOR: 200 yards now and Red Rum closing on him. Crisp is

:29:13. > :29:16.getting very tired. Red Rum is coming after him. Red Rum is

:29:16. > :29:23.finishing the strong of the. He's going to get up. Red Rum is going

:29:23. > :29:29.to win the National. And at the line Red Rum has nudged it. People

:29:29. > :29:39.said he's a one horse train er. I would agree. What a bloody good job

:29:39. > :29:39.

:29:39. > :29:44.I made of that one horse. COMMENTATOR: Red Rum getting the

:29:44. > :29:49.acknowledgement of the crowd. The winner of the National. I'm worried

:29:49. > :29:54.to ask Ginger what it means to win the National. It meant a huge

:29:54. > :30:01.amount. It did. Mick exaggerates. Sex didn't come into the hunt at

:30:01. > :30:05.all. There's no question of that. I'm an expert on both matters.

:30:05. > :30:14.COMMENTATOR: He's coming up to the line to win it in style. Hats off

:30:14. > :30:20.and a tremendous welcome for him. Red Rum wins the National. May I

:30:20. > :30:24.congratulate you, what do you think now? It's bloody marvellous, super,

:30:24. > :30:28.really the horse's part and Tommy peace part. Never in doubt. Coming

:30:28. > :30:32.across the road, yes it were going to be a nice fourth. Then jumped

:30:32. > :30:36.the second rbgts we might have a chance of third. Then about 100

:30:36. > :30:46.yards, I thought me, we're going to win it.

:30:46. > :30:47.

:30:47. > :30:55.COMMENTATOR: Down the outside, am Beryl house wins the National.

:30:55. > :30:59.you afraid ever? You sudden about the pressures, there are no

:30:59. > :31:03.pressures. That's a load of (BLEEP). We're sportsmen.

:31:03. > :31:09.COMMENTATOR: It's the McCain family with another National. You've got

:31:09. > :31:14.to give some credit to Donald. Go on. If I ever meet his father,

:31:14. > :31:24.I'm going to congratulate him and ask him where the brains came from.

:31:24. > :31:26.

:31:26. > :31:29.We've had enough of this, let's go Ginger sadly not here in person,

:31:29. > :31:33.but this bust was unveiled on Thursday to the approval of his

:31:33. > :31:37.widow, Beryl and also Donald and the whole family and Ginger McCain

:31:37. > :31:40.now here, looking down on the winners enclosure and it was

:31:40. > :31:44.extraordinary, on Thursday, the very first winner over the fences

:31:44. > :31:48.was Cloudy Lane, trained by Donald. It would be a fairy tail about

:31:48. > :31:53.Ballabriggs became the first horse since Red Rum to win back-to-back.

:31:53. > :32:00.That doesn't happen in real life. It does in the Grand National.

:32:00. > :32:07.Fairy tails do come through. -- Fairy Tales do come true. One of

:32:07. > :32:13.the best was in 1981. So to the story of Bob Champion's remarkable

:32:13. > :32:19.recovery from cancer. The lure of the entry provided the platform for

:32:19. > :32:24.one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time. Aldaniti

:32:24. > :32:27.himself mirrored Bob's recovery, coming back from a career-

:32:27. > :32:37.threatening injury for a victory that would have seemed impossible

:32:37. > :32:39.

:32:39. > :32:43.just one year earlier. You simply couldn't have written it.

:32:43. > :32:48.COMMENTATOR: It's Aldaniti who wins it at the line. The whole nation

:32:48. > :32:53.was captivated by such a heart- warming story. But beneath such

:32:53. > :32:57.gripping emotion, the influence of trainer Josh Gifford must never be

:32:57. > :33:04.forgotten. Josh had stood by Bob throughout his illness and provided

:33:04. > :33:14.him with the hope of fulfilling a dream that was to prove a perfect

:33:14. > :33:18.

:33:18. > :33:23.reality. Pure Hollywood. Marvellous, Bob. Sir Peter is here in person,

:33:23. > :33:28.watching everything closely through his binoculars. 94 years old and

:33:28. > :33:33.still hugely enthusiastic about the sport. Bob Champion is also here.

:33:33. > :33:38.Terrific memories from 1981, but so sad as well as Ginger McCain, we

:33:38. > :33:43.lost Josh in February? Yes. A great man. He stood by me through all my

:33:43. > :33:47.careers. If I got beat on one, he still stood by me. Absolutely great

:33:47. > :33:53.trainer. Great jockeys before and after myself and we all loved

:33:53. > :33:56.riding for him. Bob, that story of you and Aldaniti was tushed into a

:33:56. > :34:01.film. When did you know -- turned into a film. When did you know they

:34:01. > :34:05.would do that? Just after the National Walt Disney got in touch

:34:06. > :34:10.with the publishers and I'm pretty grateful that he didn't do it,

:34:10. > :34:17.because I didn't want to be played by a puppet really. It was a very

:34:18. > :34:22.good film. Yes. John Hurt, what an actor and Jen Jan Francis and Ben

:34:22. > :34:27.Johnson and Alison Steadman. Look at them in that. You are still

:34:27. > :34:32.coming back here year after year. It is special? Of course it is.

:34:32. > :34:36.When you get off the M62 you get flutters and I still do now. You

:34:36. > :34:40.know, what a job John Smith's have done to bring it to three days

:34:40. > :34:44.great racing and let's be honest, without the National it's still

:34:44. > :34:48.great, then the Grand National is the icing on the cake. Great to see

:34:48. > :34:52.you in the Aldaniti colours, in which Richard was competing. Going

:34:52. > :34:56.ago back to Ginger McCain and your memories of him and the sort of man

:34:56. > :35:00.that he was and trainer, because sometimes underrated. Very. He was

:35:00. > :35:03.so different from Josh Gifford. Josh was very emotional and Ginger

:35:04. > :35:07.was heart on his sleeve. You've been on the end of his tongue,

:35:07. > :35:10.haven't you? Yes. He didn't approve of women doing anything

:35:10. > :35:15.particularly, so eventually one day he said to me, "You know, I don't

:35:15. > :35:18.really like you doing all this, but you are all right, you are." That's

:35:18. > :35:24.a real compliment. He was great before he was great, if you see

:35:24. > :35:28.what I mean. He used to throw party the night before I used to ride for

:35:28. > :35:33.him. He would give parties and the whole house would be empty and the

:35:33. > :35:36.stables and old Red Rum listening to the music. The access that we,

:35:37. > :35:40.the press, had to him was unprecedented at the time.

:35:40. > :35:44.Absolutely. The most wonderful shots of Red Rum on the beach and

:35:44. > :35:48.all of that, because Ginger understood you have to keep things

:35:48. > :35:51.in the public eye and high-profile. He sold this race better than

:35:51. > :35:56.anyone and the race he may not approve of the changes to, because

:35:56. > :36:00.he liked it and better in his day, but it is still an amazing test, a

:36:00. > :36:10.test for horses and jockeys and the jockeys are the ones who are going

:36:10. > :36:16.to tell us how to ride it. At the start, you are waiting. Each jockey

:36:16. > :36:19.has a place. Get out and find a position. Get the room. It's a

:36:19. > :36:25.cavalry charge. The first six are the big test. Survival of the

:36:25. > :36:29.fittest. The third fence on the track, it's huge. Early on, it's a

:36:29. > :36:34.real test. It can scare horses, that's why you see a lot of fallers

:36:34. > :36:38.at the fourth. The end of the line of the fences is Becher's Brook.

:36:39. > :36:44.It's eleven hp foot drop. You find yourself -- it's eleven-foot drop.

:36:44. > :36:50.You find yourself going over that. Fantastic. Grand Nationals can be

:36:50. > :36:55.won and lost at the Canal Turn. to keep right. Cut the corner off.

:36:55. > :37:00.You get to The Chair and it's a lot more often. It's a not a fence you

:37:00. > :37:04.look for a long stride. It can unnerve a horse. You have to be

:37:04. > :37:12.aware of what is going on around you and in front of you. Down to

:37:12. > :37:16.the first fence, the tempo relaxes. Find your rhythm. It's a real great

:37:16. > :37:20.camaraderie. You might get a bit of crack. There's a bit of crack going

:37:20. > :37:25.on between us all. When you jump Foinavon you are really thinking

:37:25. > :37:28.you could be in business here. Still five or six from home. You

:37:29. > :37:33.try to save as much energy as you can. Across the Melling Road it

:37:33. > :37:38.turns into a stamina contest. the way through you are conscious

:37:38. > :37:45.of where the winning line is. don't want to go for home. Huge

:37:46. > :37:50.crowd in front. You can hear the buzz from the stands. The winning

:37:50. > :37:54.mentality kicks in then. You can't go out there with a plan. You've

:37:54. > :37:58.got to be prepared for the unexpected. Plenty of luck. You can

:37:58. > :38:07.really enjoy it. Get over the last and you're buzzing for months after.

:38:07. > :38:11.Enjoy every moment. It was a childhood dream come true for me.

:38:11. > :38:14.You have heard Richard and I speaking earlier on about the

:38:14. > :38:19.safety measures that are in evidence here, ahead of the Grand

:38:19. > :38:22.National. We saw the changes out on the course. Here just off the

:38:22. > :38:27.course there's the new washdown area, one of the new changes to the

:38:27. > :38:31.course. It's an area where Chris Proudman and his team, the vet

:38:31. > :38:35.adviser here, you are helping to look after the horses post-race

:38:35. > :38:39.where you can help recovery time? That's right. After the review

:38:39. > :38:42.after last year's race highlighted the post-race procedures and

:38:42. > :38:46.particularly looking after horses that might be in danger of

:38:47. > :38:49.overheating. It was an area to look at. One of the issues was that

:38:49. > :38:53.people didn't understand exactly what we were doing when we were

:38:53. > :38:58.putting water on to horses. It's a highly effective way of preventing

:38:58. > :39:03.horses from getting heed-related injuries. The other problem we had,

:39:03. > :39:06.was there was a great mele of photographers who wanted to get

:39:06. > :39:10.close and pictures of the horses, particularly the winning horse and

:39:10. > :39:14.jockey. What they didn't realise was that when horses do get

:39:14. > :39:18.overheated they go wobbly and can fall, so it was a dangerous

:39:18. > :39:22.situation. The new facility that you see here, this allows us the

:39:22. > :39:29.time and space to treat the horses as necessary, to get water on to

:39:29. > :39:33.them, to cool them down and it provides a restricted area, so the

:39:33. > :39:38.press photographers and other connections of the horse are not in

:39:39. > :39:42.danger from the horses. Very busy day, but not only are you doing

:39:42. > :39:45.things post-race, but earlier inspecting horses as part of the

:39:45. > :39:50.new procedure, all the horses taking part will be checked over by

:39:50. > :39:55.the vets here too? That's correct. The British Horseracing Authority,

:39:55. > :39:59.the regulatory body, they check every single horse that runs in a

:39:59. > :40:04.race over the Grand National fences so that involves palpating the

:40:04. > :40:07.horse's leg and feeling for signs of injury, that might put the horse

:40:07. > :40:12.at increased risk of suffering in the race. They then trot the horse

:40:12. > :40:16.up and down to look at how the horse is moving. If the horse is

:40:16. > :40:19.carrying an injury then the way the horse moves will not quite be

:40:19. > :40:23.symmetrical and the vets can pick that up and maybe identify that as

:40:23. > :40:27.a horse that is not safe to run in the race. Chris, thank you very

:40:27. > :40:32.much for your time. Chris Proudman and his team doing a great job.

:40:32. > :40:36.Lots of good safety measures in place for the horses competing in

:40:36. > :40:44.today's race. Now, it's time to look at horses 20-11 in the big

:40:44. > :40:52.race. Number 20, Rare Bob, one of four runners in the race for Irish

:40:52. > :40:58.trainer Dessie Hughes. Brian Cooper, 19, having his first ride on this

:40:58. > :41:03.33-1 chance. 19, Cappa Bleu. Is he the best chance of becoming the

:41:03. > :41:06.first Welsh-trained winner in 107 years? Number 18, Always Right.

:41:06. > :41:12.Ridden by James Reveley. Connections hoping a breathing op

:41:12. > :41:18.will do the trick here. 17, On His Own, ridden by Ruby Walsh. Got the

:41:18. > :41:26.best Grand National record. He's won the race twice. Number 16,

:41:26. > :41:31.According To Pete. He's won some big races at weather by and Haydock.

:41:31. > :41:36.15 is West End Rocker, fancied to put up a good performance today for

:41:36. > :41:41.Wayne Hutchinson. Fourth ride. 14 is Shakalakaboomboom. The talking

:41:41. > :41:49.horse here today. Barry Geraghty having his 13th National ride. 3 is

:41:49. > :41:54.Seabass, backed off the boards. -- 13 is Seabass, backed off the

:41:54. > :41:58.boards. Katie Walsh on board. 12, Tatenen. In the colours of the

:41:58. > :42:03.Stewart family. Ridden by Andrew Thornton, the oldest jockey in the

:42:03. > :42:09.race. 11 is Chicago Grey. Paul Carberry. He's bidding to be the

:42:09. > :42:15.first grey since Nicholas Silver. Down in the jockeys' room a few

:42:15. > :42:20.taking time out, keeping chilled. Katie Walsh has gone in there.

:42:20. > :42:24.There's Slippers Madden who won a few years ago. A lot of people

:42:24. > :42:28.signing autographs, because people want to Takeaway a commemorative

:42:28. > :42:33.race card and get as many names on this there as they can. Nina with

:42:33. > :42:37.the back protector on. Getting ready good and early. Soon it will

:42:37. > :42:41.be time. You wonder when you look at that section of runners and

:42:41. > :42:45.riders, Mick, Seabass and Shakalakaboomboom, now you worked

:42:45. > :42:50.for Nicky henered son for how many years? 15. He's not had a great

:42:50. > :42:55.record in the Grand National. First runner was placed. 31 runners in it

:42:55. > :42:58.hasn't yet won it. Do you think this could be the year? The one

:42:59. > :43:02.thing that strikes me about this he is brilliant and I mean brilliant.

:43:02. > :43:06.There is nobody better at placing a horse to win a big race on the big

:43:07. > :43:11.day. Getting them in the peak performance. He has done this with

:43:12. > :43:15.this horse. This horse when he ran at Donny, was second. Nicky said

:43:15. > :43:20.after to Barry, don't worry I haven't started training him yet.

:43:20. > :43:24.lot of people backing him because of the name. Shakalakaboomboom.

:43:24. > :43:27.It's a great name. But you think he's actually got the things that

:43:27. > :43:31.you need, stamina and jumping ability to win? He's been around

:43:31. > :43:37.here. Ran at the Topham last year, so got around and got that little

:43:37. > :43:41.experience. Year older and stronger. Nicky is training him for it.

:43:41. > :43:45.Nicky's having a good afternoon. Won the first two races and saddles

:43:45. > :43:55.Oscar Whisky going for back-to-back wins in the Aintree Hurdle. Big

:43:55. > :43:55.

:43:55. > :44:54.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

:44:54. > :44:59.opposition here. Jim can tell us Wembley and what is the quickest

:45:00. > :45:06.way and now you are going to take the bad news. I know the way to me

:45:06. > :45:16.couch. Liverpool two. It had to be Andy car rolling. Will you watch it

:45:16. > :45:25.toe -- -- Andy Carroll. Will you watch it tonight?! Liverpool won

:45:25. > :45:32.there. Zarkandar, Ruby Walsh, he has chosen to ride Zarkandar rather

:45:32. > :45:36.than Rock On Ruby. Over to Paul. Paul, Ruby is riding Zarkandar,

:45:37. > :45:42.whose decision is that? A team decision really. Obviously, Noel

:45:42. > :45:49.did nothing wrong in the Champion Hurdle. Ruby won the betfred on him

:45:49. > :45:53.at Newbury and won on him leer last year. If you change, too much, then

:45:53. > :45:59.if Ruby had ridden Rock On Ruby then someone else on Zarkandar and

:45:59. > :46:02.you wouldn't be able to split them. You wouldn't be able to split them.

:46:02. > :46:06.Rock On Ruby looks outstanding. There is improvement physically to

:46:06. > :46:11.come from Zarkandar. How is Rock On Ruby coming out of the victory?

:46:11. > :46:15.Looks absolutely stunning. Done a great job with him. He looks good.

:46:15. > :46:20.That's a good sign when you've been to Cheltenham. Zarkandar a step up

:46:21. > :46:25.in trip? It will suit him. Stayed on strongly up the hill. It doesn't

:46:25. > :46:30.necessarily mean they want two-and- a-half. He's only a five-year-old.

:46:30. > :46:33.Should suit him. We'll know a lot more in a moment. Neptune Collonges,

:46:33. > :46:39.everything well? Looking forward to running him. Good luck with that

:46:39. > :46:45.and these two. Thank you. The two most successful trainers in the

:46:45. > :46:48.country, Paul and Nicky have never won the Grand National. Huge crowd

:46:48. > :46:53.here. Now the football is over all focusing completely on the racing

:46:53. > :46:58.and they'll try to decide what can win this race. Could it be Oscar

:46:58. > :47:03.Whisky who won it last year? Such a talented horse. Still is. You can

:47:03. > :47:11.see that Barry had to get fairly serious with him to hold off

:47:11. > :47:15.Thousand Stars. Oscar Whisky had to pull it all out. Thousand Stars in

:47:15. > :47:19.the field again? We are just watching the Champion Hurdle here.

:47:19. > :47:22.You can see Rock On Ruby in the hands of Noel Fehily. Great day for

:47:22. > :47:28.Noel. The owners and Paul have stayed loyal to him and let him

:47:28. > :47:32.keep the ride. Noel will be delighted with that. Overturn, a

:47:32. > :47:36.great yard stick and a lot of people were saying it's a Phluke,

:47:36. > :47:40.but Oscar Whisky was disappointed in the World Hurdle and took on Big

:47:40. > :47:44.Buck's and travelled too well in the race. He was a little too keen,

:47:44. > :47:48.expanded -- expended too much energy. You would think he would be

:47:48. > :47:52.hugely relieved to go back in trip. Rock On Ruby and Zarkandar are

:47:52. > :47:57.stepping up, having run in the two- mile Champion Hurdle to going half

:47:57. > :48:01.a mile further, but the course is flatter and it is less demanding.

:48:02. > :48:05.Rock On Ruby is technically trained by Paul Nicholls, but Harry Fry

:48:05. > :48:08.looks after him and does all the fitness how many miles away from

:48:08. > :48:12.the main yard? I wouldn't know, but it's not that far, but far enough

:48:12. > :48:16.that Paul was very keen to point out that they were amajor part in

:48:16. > :48:20.this horse's success at the Festival. What a beautiful-looking

:48:20. > :48:25.horse. I said to Harry Fry, will he go straight chasing next year and

:48:25. > :48:35.he said, "Well, might bring him back to defend." The last one to

:48:35. > :48:37.

:48:37. > :48:40.win this in the same season was Istabrack. He's a fine figure of a

:48:40. > :48:46.horse. Got huge depth to him. You can see right down through his

:48:46. > :48:56.chest and his girth. I love to see him jum fences, because he's the

:48:56. > :49:01.chasing type. Looking -- jumping fences, because he's the chasing

:49:01. > :49:05.type. Looking down there at them. Zarkandar explaining he thinks this

:49:05. > :49:10.is the horse that has the most improvement. He flew up the hill at

:49:10. > :49:19.Cheltenham. He's a horse who will be definitely oh suited by the step

:49:19. > :49:22.up in distance. He's five years old, so the baby. We'll see if he can

:49:23. > :49:27.come become. Thousand Stars on whom Katie Walsh has been so successful.

:49:27. > :49:32.Also Ruby but Paul getting the ride. Paul is a champion jockey in

:49:32. > :49:35.Ireland. Second jockey behind Ruby and on days when Ruby rides for

:49:35. > :49:39.Paul Nicholls he comes in for a very good ride here. The Irish have

:49:39. > :49:47.a pretty good record in this race. They've won it every year between

:49:47. > :49:54.2005 and 09. All of those five wins coming from Al Ella. He used to

:49:54. > :50:02.farm this race. Third Intention. Nice horse. Definitely good over

:50:02. > :50:12.fences too. Solid type. The faster they go, the ber -- the better this

:50:12. > :50:16.

:50:16. > :50:19.will suit. Just look at the market now. Tactically, what do you think?

:50:19. > :50:24.I think that could be the problem here, what will make the run. Watch

:50:24. > :50:28.the way the two are out. They are leading the pack. The rest are

:50:28. > :50:33.happy to get a lead from Noel and Ruby. They'll set the pace and it

:50:33. > :50:36.will be slow. You can tell now they are not going to set off very fast.

:50:36. > :50:44.It will be very, very different later on in our big one. That's for

:50:44. > :50:50.sure. We won't see them ambling to the tapes in the Grand National.

:50:50. > :50:54.They're off and running. Can Oscar Whisky win it in consecutive years?

:50:54. > :51:00.Stepping off in the lead, that's Rock On Ruby, leading by four

:51:00. > :51:03.lengths as they draw to the first of eleven. He pops over it in

:51:03. > :51:07.nickical style. Then in second Zarkandar and going second on the

:51:07. > :51:12.inside is Oscar Whisky. Just taking a bit of a hold early. They come to

:51:12. > :51:16.the second. In behind them the grey, Thousand Stars and Third Intention

:51:16. > :51:21.is last of the quintet. Thousand Stars not fluent. Rapped it pretty

:51:21. > :51:26.hard, but no damage done as they continue their trip down to the far

:51:26. > :51:31.corner of the course and turning left and racing back to home. It's

:51:31. > :51:38.rock on Robin Cooky who shows the way for Noel Fehily -- Rock On Ruby,

:51:38. > :51:43.who shows the way to Noel Fehily. This magnificent racetrack here at

:51:43. > :51:48.Liverpool, here at Aintree, and on the inside, it's Rock On Ruby

:51:48. > :51:53.showing the way, and Oscar Whisky tucked in and Thousand Stars on the

:51:53. > :51:57.outside and Zarkandar and two away is Third Intention. They swing into

:51:57. > :52:03.the home straight. Noel Fehily, who rides State Of Play in the National,

:52:03. > :52:06.bidding to make all the running here on Rock On Ruby. Leads by a

:52:06. > :52:11.length-and-a-half to Barry Geraghty on Shakalakaboomboom in the big one.

:52:11. > :52:16.He's on Oscar Whisky as they head over the next one. On the inside is

:52:16. > :52:20.the grey, Thousand Stars, ridden by Paul Townend, who will be aboard

:52:20. > :52:25.The Midnight Club and Zarkandar, ridden by Ruby Walsh, who is aboard

:52:25. > :52:31.On His Own and two lengths away is Third Intention. Joe Tizzard there.

:52:31. > :52:36.Heading up the home straight towards flight number five. Rock On

:52:36. > :52:41.Ruby shows the way to Oscar Whisky. Thousand Stars getting a fraction

:52:41. > :52:47.closer. Followed by Zarkandar, who is well and truly in touch and the

:52:47. > :52:51.tempo has not been strong at all in the first circuit. Last of the five

:52:51. > :52:59.runners is Third Intention. Rock On Ruby the leader, as they go to the

:52:59. > :53:02.judge, and there's been no change in the order of the outset. -- from

:53:02. > :53:06.the outset. Rock On Ruby and Thousand Stars travelling on the

:53:06. > :53:11.inside. Half a length away is Zarkandar and one length further

:53:11. > :53:15.back is Third Intention. Five lengths covers the field as they

:53:15. > :53:22.draw towards the back once again. Back where they started. Rock On

:53:22. > :53:25.Ruby still the leader by half a length to in second place, Oscar

:53:25. > :53:28.Whisky. Thousand Stars and then Zarkandar and three parts away is

:53:28. > :53:31.Third Intention. They head towards the sixth. The first one down the

:53:31. > :53:37.back. A row of three. Coming towards them. The faller there is

:53:38. > :53:43.Zarkandar. Zarkandar has gone. Zarkandar a heavy fall at the rear.

:53:43. > :53:48.Horse up on his feet OK. Ruby Walsh sitting up. But it was a heavy fall.

:53:48. > :53:52.They head to the next now. This is flight number seven. Rock On Ruby

:53:52. > :53:57.shows the way from Oscar Whisky. Then Thousand Stars and further

:53:58. > :54:04.back Third Intention. Just looking back to see how Ruby is. He's still

:54:04. > :54:09.on the ground. They come to four out. It's Rock On Ruby, who steps

:54:09. > :54:15.over it in the lead. The ambulance attendants are over with Ruby Walsh,

:54:15. > :54:19.who took a very heavy fall there at the first one down the back. They

:54:19. > :54:25.head towards the back now. They leave the back now and head across

:54:25. > :54:28.the top of the track. It's Rock On Ruby showing the way, from, in

:54:28. > :54:32.second place, Oscar Whisky. Then Thousand Stars. Half a length

:54:32. > :54:38.further back is Third Intention. They continue their journey now

:54:38. > :54:44.towards the entrance to the home straight. Rock On Ruby, Noel Fehily,

:54:44. > :54:47.this champion hurdler bidding to make every yard. Then Oscar Whisky

:54:47. > :54:52.and then Thousand Stars and a gap in the field to Third Intention.

:54:52. > :54:57.Into the home straight. Three left to jump. Rock On Ruby he comes to

:54:57. > :55:01.three out and steps over in the lead, from in second, Oscar Whisky.

:55:01. > :55:05.Ruby Walsh is on his feet. Then Thousand Stars. They've got two

:55:05. > :55:08.left to jump now. Rock On Ruby, lands over. Oscar Whisky coming at

:55:08. > :55:13.him hard. Now the grey, Thousand Stars, is now switched up and

:55:13. > :55:17.coming at the pair of them. They've got one left to jump. They draw to

:55:17. > :55:20.the last. Three in line. Oscar Whisky touches down in the lead,

:55:20. > :55:24.from Rock On Ruby. Thousand Stars now called on for an effort. The

:55:24. > :55:29.same at least year, maybe. Oscar Whisky in front. Thousand Stars

:55:29. > :55:33.down the outside. Oscar Whisky is clinging to this lead. 50 yards

:55:33. > :55:43.left to go. Oscar wis I can fighting hard. It's a replica of

:55:43. > :55:48.

:55:48. > :55:49.last year. -- whiskey fighting hard. last year. -- whiskey fighting hard.

:55:49. > :55:56.It's a replica of last year. Oscar Whisky has travelled home from

:55:57. > :56:04.Thousand Stars, the first one, two, two horses home at last year. Good

:56:04. > :56:08.news that Ruby Walsh is up on his feet. He did get up, I'm told, and

:56:08. > :56:18.it took a long time for his to rise to his feet. We'll have a report on

:56:18. > :56:23.how he is very soon. He was injured in this race not that long ago and

:56:23. > :56:26.Celestial Halo and had to miss his ride in the Grand National. There's

:56:26. > :56:32.Oscar Whisky scrambling home by a neck to a half length from Thousand

:56:33. > :56:39.Stars. Paul Townend there. Nicky Henderson has landed the first

:56:39. > :56:44.three winners and here he is with Rishi. Nicky's making a habit of

:56:44. > :56:48.winning the first three and Dai is making a habit of winning this, the

:56:48. > :56:55.owner. Gentlemen, great? It was great. Just a complete re-run of

:56:55. > :57:00.last year. I feel sorry for the grey horse. Another two strides

:57:00. > :57:06.last year he would have had us and another two he might have just had

:57:06. > :57:12.us today. Feel sorry for him, but ultimately you're pleased? Exactly.

:57:12. > :57:22.What was that like that? Fantastic. It's dreams come true. That is what

:57:22. > :57:22.

:57:22. > :57:28.you buy them for. I'm just so delighted with nick's team and Noel.

:57:29. > :57:34.-- nick's team and Noel. -- Nicky's team and Noel. Great to see Ruby up.

:57:34. > :57:38.That's a good thing. I'm delighted to see the horse back. I know we

:57:38. > :57:45.tried three and in fairness he had a very, very hard race in

:57:45. > :57:51.Cheltenham. He was even - quite wobbly even after the race. He

:57:51. > :57:56.blatantly didn't get it. Very, very tired. You know, I just wondered

:57:57. > :58:01.whether he had time to get him back. The boys have done brilliantly at

:58:01. > :58:04.home. They helped me with him. Fantastic job. It's thanks to them,

:58:04. > :58:09.but to get him back after what happened to him in Cheltenham, it

:58:09. > :58:14.was - maybe I ran him in the wrong race, I don't know. He's done

:58:14. > :58:19.really well to get back for this. That's thanks to the team. Now you

:58:19. > :58:23.just have to go and win the Grand National. That's the sort of race

:58:23. > :58:27.you don't ever think you're going to win. You try. These are the -

:58:27. > :58:35.the first two had to win, if you like and this was a crux race, yes.

:58:35. > :58:38.Well done, so far. Thank you. extraordinary treble for Nicky

:58:38. > :58:41.Henderson. Won the first three races here on Grand National day,

:58:41. > :58:47.but the crunching fall was the headline for Ruby Walsh. Two years

:58:47. > :58:54.ago he was so badly injured from a fall in this race that Barry ger

:58:54. > :58:58.fiity replaced him on big fella -- Geraghty replaced him on Big Fella

:58:58. > :59:02.Thanks. He was properly landed on by Zarkandar and the rorst is all

:59:02. > :59:06.right. He just stepped at the -- the horse is all right. He just

:59:06. > :59:11.stepped at the hurdles. You see there absolutely flattens Ruby.

:59:11. > :59:14.That's the sort of fall that can do you serious damage. He has a

:59:14. > :59:18.crunching fall. You can see grass all over his head. He has taken a

:59:18. > :59:22.serious bang. To see him walk away, the horse landing on top of him,

:59:22. > :59:27.it's one of the falls where the horse comes up out of your hands

:59:27. > :59:32.and steps and they are the heaviest, the hardest falls you can get. They

:59:32. > :59:37.are a lost worse falls over a fence, because you hit the ground so quick.

:59:38. > :59:43.This is Nicky. It's lucky he has got a strong heart, because he's

:59:43. > :59:48.having a heart-stopping day. That was an extraordinary, exciting

:59:48. > :59:52.finish, but the biggest relief is Zarkandar is all right and that

:59:52. > :59:55.Ruby Walsh is all right as well. He will be on board On His Own in the

:59:55. > :00:05.Grand National, but there is Chapoturgeon to ride in the next

:00:05. > :00:08.

:00:09. > :00:15.Every six months they replace their hats. It must have shifted the

:00:15. > :00:18.helmet back up on his head. Tough, tough men. Ruby Walsh has had so

:00:18. > :00:25.many injuries through his career and that's the thing that really

:00:25. > :00:28.gets to you, as a jockey. Barry Geraghty is a blessed man, he was

:00:28. > :00:34.having a terrific day. All three horses that he has sat on so far

:00:34. > :00:39.have come home to this winners' enclosure. Makes the walk back to

:00:39. > :00:48.the weighing room very easy indeed. A fabulous race and Oscar Whisky

:00:48. > :00:52.wins at 9-4. It was a copy of last year's video.

:00:52. > :00:55.One part of our coverage this seems to be going down well is hearing

:00:55. > :01:05.from as many jockeys as possible as they answer various questions and

:01:05. > :01:14.

:01:14. > :01:18.this one may cause a fair bit of much for a start. Finish stronger.

:01:19. > :01:27.Eat food. Drink. Got to be careful now, haven't I. Stay on horses.

:01:27. > :01:33.Jump. Party. We like to save our money. Jump fences. Jump an

:01:33. > :01:36.obstacle. They can eat more. Appreciate life better.

:01:36. > :01:40.The reason they do appreciate life is because as you saw there with

:01:40. > :01:44.Ruby Walsh every time you get on a horse and go out there and ride you

:01:44. > :01:48.are in danger of having a heavy fall and they are the toughest

:01:48. > :01:52.sportsmen I think I have ever come across. Extraordinary. And I am

:01:52. > :01:55.pleased that Ruby Walsh is OK. He will be checked over by the doctor.

:01:55. > :01:59.There is very good medical facilities here and he will looking

:01:59. > :02:02.forward to the ride in the Grand National. We have been working

:02:02. > :02:08.throughed horses in reverse order. We now come to those towards the

:02:08. > :02:14.top and at the very top of the handicap.

:02:14. > :02:17.We are up to number 10, which is Junior, ridden by Tom Scudamore.

:02:17. > :02:22.Here is a horse for the big occasion, a winner at Royal Ascot

:02:22. > :02:26.and Cheltenham. Can he win a Grand National?

:02:26. > :02:32.Deep Purple, a horse who has come back after losing his way a little

:02:32. > :02:37.bit. Jamie Moore will take the ride. Black Apalachi, his fourth attempt

:02:37. > :02:41.at the Grand National. He was second in 2010.

:02:41. > :02:51.Planet Of Sound, he won a big race in Ireland, the Guinness Gold Cup,

:02:51. > :02:52.

:02:52. > :03:00.not that long ago. Alfa Beat, his only previous run over the big

:03:00. > :03:03.fences. Calgary Bay, trained by Henrietta

:03:04. > :03:09.Knight. Neptune Collonges, one of the four

:03:09. > :03:13.greys in the field. Trained by Paul Nicholls.

:03:13. > :03:19.Weird Al, one of the most talented jumpers in the field. Donald McCain

:03:19. > :03:23.is the trainer. Timmy Murphy, who has won this race, will ride today.

:03:23. > :03:29.Ballabriggs, last year's winner, again ridden by Jason Maguire. He

:03:29. > :03:33.attempts to be the first in 38 years to win back-to-back Nationals.

:03:33. > :03:36.Finally, Synchronised. AP McCoy bidding to become the first in 78

:03:36. > :03:39.years to win the Gold Cup and The National in the one year.

:03:39. > :03:44.A few horses have come close over the years but he is the first Gold

:03:44. > :03:48.Cup winner to run in the race since Master Oaks in 95 and some horses

:03:48. > :03:52.have won the Gold Cup and come here and won the Grand Nationaled

:03:52. > :03:58.following year. And Golden Miller, you have to go back to him to the

:03:58. > :04:01.horse that has won the Gold Cup and come on to win a National. Four

:04:01. > :04:06.Gold Cups? Five. He came here nearly every year and fell three or

:04:07. > :04:10.four times. Started refusing in and his owner, the most extraordinary

:04:10. > :04:15.character, she kept replacing the jockey thinking that would make a

:04:15. > :04:18.keufrpbs. -- difference. Huge Huge appreciation of history here and

:04:18. > :04:22.love and respect for those horses that have been here before and done

:04:22. > :04:30.it. There was a parade of champions earlier today, which included the

:04:30. > :04:36.horse that you rode to your second Grand National, Minnehoma. Going as

:04:36. > :04:46.grey as I am! 29 he is. But great to see him. Gave me the best day of

:04:46. > :04:47.

:04:47. > :04:52.my life. Fitsy has better ways of putting it. I had done it on West

:04:52. > :04:58.Tip but to do it again was fantastic. He was owned by Freddie

:04:58. > :05:02.Starr, who wasn't here. He wasn't. We did an interview with Desmond

:05:02. > :05:09.afterwards, Martin was on the phone to Freddie and he passed the phone

:05:09. > :05:13.to me and you will I could hear was Barking sounds down the other end

:05:13. > :05:15.of the phone. You held off the challenge of Just So. Great

:05:16. > :05:20.memories. We are going to have perfect ground here today and the

:05:20. > :05:24.rain that we felt hasn't fallen, so although it's a chilly breezy day,

:05:24. > :05:29.very good conditions for the horses and significantly cooler than this

:05:29. > :05:33.time last year. We are an hour and ten minutes away from the big race

:05:33. > :05:37.itself. As we zoom in to the racecourse stables that's where the

:05:37. > :05:40.runners for the Grand National are. Some still in their stables. Let's

:05:41. > :05:44.find out exactly what will be happening to them with Ian and

:05:44. > :05:47.Richard. Yes, it's just as you say, 70

:05:47. > :05:50.minutes or so before the Grand National. The horses for the

:05:50. > :05:56.previous race just coming back. The real stars of this afternoon,

:05:56. > :06:03.they're still relaxing. They are, only just. We have seen a plethora

:06:03. > :06:07.of lads here having the final fag, trying to keep calm. If I wander

:06:07. > :06:10.over here, I want to talk to the travelling head lad to Donald

:06:10. > :06:16.McCain. You are worse than the horse, you are shaking. This is the

:06:16. > :06:19.worst part, just waiting. How long before do you get them out of the

:06:19. > :06:25.boxes? About ten minutes now. And will you walk them around for ages?

:06:25. > :06:30.Yeah, they'll walk around. Make their way to the enclosure. I saw

:06:30. > :06:35.Ballabriggs last year, he is the epet me of what a horse -- epitome

:06:35. > :06:40.of what a horse should be. can't fault him, no. Size, scope,

:06:40. > :06:44.everything you want. How are you feeling? Nervous. Good man, that's

:06:44. > :06:51.the way. As you said there's not much happening here. The thing with

:06:51. > :06:58.horses, keeping them calm is so important. They're like kids, some

:06:58. > :07:05.get geed up. Keep them level. we are - when do they last eat? You

:07:05. > :07:10.can't run a race on a full tummy. In fact, we will ask Wizard again.

:07:10. > :07:20.When When breakfast is the last feed? 7.00am this morning.

:07:20. > :07:24.water? Until about 11.00. They've got to not be dehydrated. Depends

:07:24. > :07:27.on the weather, if it was was warm you would leave it in later.

:07:27. > :07:30.have been doing the job long enough, you know what you are doing. That

:07:30. > :07:33.was the answer to your question. was. I have never met you before

:07:33. > :07:37.but I will take him away now. Clare, all yours.

:07:37. > :07:41.Fantastic stuff. Thank you. Only one horse in the field has the

:07:41. > :07:45.possibility of having won at Royal Ascot, the Cheltenham Festival and

:07:45. > :07:49.winning the Grand National. His name is Junior, he's already done

:07:49. > :07:55.parts one and two. He could do part three and that takes a special kind

:07:55. > :08:02.of horse. To assess the engine and the four-wheel drive capabilities

:08:02. > :08:06.of a top-class thoroughbred, there was only one man to ask, James May.

:08:06. > :08:10.For centuries man and horse have lived and worked side by side.

:08:10. > :08:13.But it's only recently that we have been able to appreciate just how

:08:13. > :08:17.incredible these creatures really are.

:08:17. > :08:20.Through years of selective breeding we have witnessed the creation of

:08:20. > :08:24.elite athletes. The kind of horses that will run in this year's Grand

:08:24. > :08:29.National. But just how can an animal the size

:08:29. > :08:34.of a cow exceed speeds of over 40mph?

:08:34. > :08:39.I am here with Junior at David Pipe's stables in Somerset. The

:08:39. > :08:48.first thing that strikes you about these beasts, if it's not its snout,

:08:48. > :08:55.is the sheer size of them. This is a thoroughbred racing horse,

:08:55. > :08:59.between 5 5 and 600 kilogrammes. If you could open the bonnet on a

:08:59. > :09:04.horse you would find a huge ribcage and inside an enormous pair of

:09:04. > :09:08.lungs, almost two metres long. They have an immense internal surface

:09:08. > :09:13.area, so big that if you could theoretically open them out they

:09:13. > :09:19.would occupy an area about the same as Tenor Nivernais tpheus courts.

:09:19. > :09:25.-- ten tennis courts. This is Graduation Night. Now, as in a car,

:09:25. > :09:27.fuel efficiency is the key during a race. The horse's fuel is oxygen.

:09:27. > :09:32.Unlike humans, a horse can't actually breathe in through its

:09:32. > :09:35.mouth. It can only breathe in through its nostrils, which is why

:09:35. > :09:41.they're so big. The oxygen makes its way to these enormous lungs

:09:41. > :09:45.which during the race can expand and contract up to a 150 times a

:09:45. > :09:49.minute. So finish the Grand National a horse will breathe in

:09:49. > :09:53.more than 21,000 litres of air. That's the same as an adult human

:09:53. > :09:57.pwraoets in -- breathes in two whole days.

:09:57. > :10:01.The oxygen has to make its way to the muscles and it does that by

:10:01. > :10:04.being carried in the blood which is pumped around the horse by its huge

:10:04. > :10:09.heart, bigger than a volleyball. At the moment Junior's heart will be

:10:09. > :10:17.beating at something like 25-30 beats a minute. But in the race

:10:17. > :10:22.that could reach a staggering 240 beats per minute. So, between now

:10:22. > :10:26.and now that huge volleyball-sized heart will beat four times and

:10:26. > :10:31.pumped around 75 gallons of blood around the body.

:10:31. > :10:37.Just as in racing cars, all racing motorcycles, power is the key. This

:10:37. > :10:40.is the bicep here and the leg works like a pogo stick. It has to

:10:40. > :10:46.sustain what is really the equivalent of the weight of a small

:10:46. > :10:52.compact car on each leg. But as it flexes, this bicep muscle stores

:10:52. > :10:54.energy in its elasticity and that energy is released and that

:10:54. > :10:59.catapults the horse forward for the next stride. This action is so

:10:59. > :11:04.efficient it actually increases the power of that muscle about 100

:11:04. > :11:09.times. Let's move to the back legs. Here

:11:09. > :11:15.you have 25kilos, the equivalent of the weight of a small child, of

:11:15. > :11:18.pure muscle wedged on to each leg. A horse is in essence, rear wheel

:11:18. > :11:21.drive. This delivers immense driving power to the back legs

:11:21. > :11:26.which is necessary for racing and speed, obviously, but also because

:11:26. > :11:30.it has to jump. I am always nervous around the back of horses. In mid-

:11:30. > :11:35.air the horse is in a state of suspension. When it's galloping it

:11:35. > :11:38.will take one breath perfectly in time with one stride. But when it

:11:39. > :11:45.jumps it holds its breath as it takes off, and only breathes in

:11:45. > :11:49.again when it lands. We have all the elements here for a truly

:11:49. > :11:54.fantastic thoroughbred within. Of course, this is racing, so you need

:11:54. > :11:58.a little extra something, the va- va-voom. Perhaps the most

:11:58. > :12:03.incredible thing about these horses is they have a kind of natural

:12:03. > :12:07.turbo-charger. The eQuinn circulatory system allows blood

:12:07. > :12:11.cells to be stored in the the spleen can I can be released on

:12:11. > :12:16.demand. This means that during strenuous exercise the horse can

:12:16. > :12:22.call on reserve red cells to help supply extra oxygen to its muscles,

:12:22. > :12:29.just like having your own built in turbo switch during the race. It is

:12:29. > :12:34.quite amazing. These horses have to be nurtured

:12:34. > :12:38.from birth. They are fabulously well honed athletes with every

:12:38. > :12:43.single body part working to the peak of efficiency so that they can

:12:44. > :12:50.push the boundaries of speed and endurance. But on race day that is

:12:50. > :12:54.not really what you see. You see simply this, a beautiful perfect

:12:54. > :13:04.spesman working hard, doing what it does best and what it seems to

:13:04. > :13:10.

:13:10. > :13:13.enjoy. Racing. And you love those.

:13:14. > :13:18.They're not bad actually! The man himself is here in the

:13:18. > :13:21.betting ring. Why are you here today? Well, I was set a challenge,

:13:21. > :13:26.part of my series, could I commentate on the Grand National?

:13:26. > :13:29.It's a test of our ability to remember things, which is all about

:13:29. > :13:31.certain techniques which we can demonstrate. It's also about

:13:31. > :13:35.keeping cool under pressure, remembering what you have learned

:13:35. > :13:38.and doing something that everybody believes they can do, commentate on

:13:38. > :13:42.a race. Actually turns out to be extremely difficult and I wish I

:13:42. > :13:46.hadn't agreed to it. I spoke to you yesterday and it wasn't going too

:13:46. > :13:50.well to say the least. You had only learned the first ten. I

:13:50. > :13:57.recommended you stay in the hotel, have a nice meal and study colours,

:13:57. > :14:05.did you do that? Sort of, we had four or five nice bottles of Rioja

:14:05. > :14:11.and ate in the restaurant. We did produce flashcards and me and Rory

:14:12. > :14:16.- try me on one. Give knee some colours. Weird Al. Black with

:14:16. > :14:21.circle. How are you feeling now? It's coming very close, you will be

:14:21. > :14:26.up above us soon, are you netting nervous? To be brutally honest, yes.

:14:26. > :14:30.It's one of those things, you can't hurt yourself. It's not like - you

:14:30. > :14:33.can sort of make an idiot of yourself, which in this business I

:14:33. > :14:40.am sure you know, is pretty much the same thing. I am trying to be

:14:40. > :14:44.upbeat and trying to enjoy it. If I enjoy it hopefully the listeners, I

:14:44. > :14:48.will be on BBC1 red button and sport website, they will enjoy it

:14:48. > :14:53.too. As part of your continued education of the racing game -

:14:53. > :14:57.they're all singing Liverpool songs to put me off, one page of betting.

:14:57. > :15:07.Here is the microphone. Off you go. Here for the John Smith's Grand

:15:07. > :15:13.

:15:13. > :15:17.National. It's 10-1 the field. Shakalakaboomboom, blue and black

:15:17. > :15:26.stripes. Ballabriggs yellow and green. West End Rocker red dots on

:15:26. > :15:31.the sleeve. 14-1. Junior, blue, gold stripes, down there former

:15:31. > :15:36.favourite 16-1 Cappa Bleu, now wearing a red hat. Sunnyhillboy

:15:36. > :15:40.that's half a carpet. Stop showing off! If you get it right like that

:15:40. > :15:50.with 40 runners you have passed your test.

:15:50. > :15:53.Mick and I are in the jockeys' weighing room. Ruby Walsh will not

:15:53. > :15:58.be riding. Ruby is being assessed at the moment and there is tension

:15:58. > :16:00.in here. We don't know what's going to happen on Ruby and his ride On

:16:00. > :16:04.His Own in the Grand National? lot of tension, because it could

:16:04. > :16:08.change everything. What happens with the Willie Mullins runners if

:16:08. > :16:12.he is unable to take his ride. He looked shook when he went out of

:16:12. > :16:17.here. AP went with him to the doctor's room. We don't know. We

:16:17. > :16:22.have nothing confirmed as yet. It looks doubtful. If that's the case

:16:22. > :16:26.there is going to be a shuffle around. Willie Mullins will have to

:16:26. > :16:30.change certain horses, very unsure. It's nervous times for everybody

:16:30. > :16:35.here. There's other lads here hoping they might get on a better

:16:35. > :16:39.ride. I was coming in to chat about how nervous it was with a race, now

:16:39. > :16:44.with this added difficulty, it's very, very quiet in here. It is

:16:44. > :16:47.very quiet. As well the other lads who haven't got a decent ride,

:16:47. > :16:51.they're thinking should I put myself forward? Somebody's

:16:51. > :16:56.misfortune is another jockey's good fortune. Somebody out there will be

:16:56. > :16:59.hoping they can get a better ride. Ruby Walsh is not in the next race,

:16:59. > :17:03.Paddy Brennan takes his run. We await for official confirmation of

:17:03. > :17:09.whether Ruby will take his ride on On His Own.

:17:09. > :17:12.If Ruby misses out again it will be the second time in three years a

:17:12. > :17:16.fall has prevented him riding in the Grand National. We will

:17:16. > :17:23.bringing you confirmed news as soon as we hear it. One jockey here in

:17:23. > :17:26.the last race after we come off air could I suppose step in for that

:17:26. > :17:30.ride. But Sir Peter O'Sullivan has been looking back on great Grand

:17:30. > :17:40.Nationals past and the last in this series takes us to the year 1997

:17:40. > :17:46.

:17:46. > :17:52.when all of us here were overtaken the race was abandoned following an

:17:52. > :17:56.IRA bomb square in 1997. There were unprecedented scenes as the

:17:57. > :18:00.announcement came through that nobody wanted to hear. I just ask

:18:00. > :18:04.everybody here, including you from the BBC, to leave the course and

:18:04. > :18:12.get on to the public highway immediately. Through adversity the

:18:12. > :18:16.spirit of the local community shone. Great hospitality was shown to the

:18:16. > :18:21.public and the race was rerun 48 hours later on Monday. For me it

:18:21. > :18:31.brought down the curtain on a lovely long involvement in the

:18:31. > :18:33.

:18:33. > :18:40.event with which it was an honour and privilege to be associated.

:18:40. > :18:50.It is a delight to relive the past and to have the opportunity to wish

:18:50. > :18:57.

:18:57. > :19:02.the truly Grand National an equally referred to as the voice and that's

:19:02. > :19:05.the statue of Sir Peter O'Sullivan. He is here as well today enjoying

:19:05. > :19:09.the build-up to the John Smith's Grand National. When it was moved

:19:09. > :19:13.to the Monday that race, we had a record television audience and a

:19:13. > :19:17.whole load, thousands of people coming here on free tickets. It

:19:17. > :19:21.ended up being a terrific story of the resilience of the public. But

:19:22. > :19:24.we are hearing news on Ruby Walsh, let's go to Rishi.

:19:24. > :19:28.Terrible news, he will not be riding in this year's Grand

:19:28. > :19:35.National. He has been stood down for the day. That means that Paul

:19:35. > :19:37.Town end, due to ride The Midnight Club and he will ride On His Own.

:19:37. > :19:44.Ruby Walsh out of this year's Grand National.

:19:44. > :19:50.And that just is desperate bad luck. We look at the fall. Although he

:19:50. > :19:54.walked away, the doctor clearly feeling he is not fit to ride.

:19:54. > :19:58.Watch the way he hits the ground. Bang, head. Straight to the floor.

:19:58. > :20:02.That's probably what's done him. The fact that the horse has come

:20:02. > :20:05.over on top of him will mean he will be very sore tomorrow. At the

:20:05. > :20:09.moment his body still probably feels OK but his head isn't right.

:20:09. > :20:12.If your head is not right, you cannot ride. You cannot take the

:20:12. > :20:18.risk and however much you love the Grand National and look forward to

:20:18. > :20:21.it. Ruby Walsh will be inside, he will be absolutely gutted. You

:20:21. > :20:25.would almost be willing to take a chance, but you can take a chance

:20:25. > :20:29.with a lot of things, but with your head you can't. Katie Walsh now the

:20:29. > :20:32.only member of the Walsh family in the race. She is on board Seabass.

:20:32. > :20:36.One more race to go before they line up for the Grand National.

:20:37. > :20:46.It's over fences on the Melling course and here is Jim with the

:20:47. > :20:47.

:20:47. > :21:59.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

:21:59. > :22:04.runners and riders. The National is less than an hour

:22:04. > :22:08.away and I have had a report William Hill, Betfred. William Hill

:22:08. > :22:12.have taken over �20 million in bets so far on this National. This could

:22:12. > :22:18.be the busiest National ever in the shops.

:22:18. > :22:21.David Johnson's colours here will be carried by Swing Bill in the

:22:22. > :22:25.National. Chapoturgeon, Paddy Brennan taking over. He is a horse

:22:25. > :22:32.who has come back to form. He had his first win for a while in

:22:32. > :22:39.January, beating Cloudy Lane. So the form is working out well.

:22:39. > :22:43.this horse is stepping up against professional horses almost. Doesn't

:22:43. > :22:49.he rook beautiful -- look beautiful? Looks like one of those

:22:49. > :22:53.rocking horses. He has a chance. Lucky spare ride for Paddy Brennan.

:22:53. > :23:03.Just desperate bad luck for Ruby Walsh, that he misses out on this

:23:03. > :23:07.

:23:07. > :23:10.and the Grand National. This is Richard Johnson Marufo.

:23:10. > :23:14.Isn't he another one, lovely low head carriage. Whatever it is about

:23:14. > :23:17.the way horses when they go to the start like that, they almost as a

:23:17. > :23:21.jockey feel like they would be able to jump anything. Wasn't it

:23:21. > :23:26.interesting that piece James May did about how big the lungs and

:23:26. > :23:30.heart is, where the power is. You watch them in motion in a different

:23:30. > :23:34.way. Battle Group will give Tom Scudamore a good ride. This horse

:23:34. > :23:39.has form at Aintree, which is a massive plus. You You get horses

:23:39. > :23:49.that come to life here. David Pipe had a quiet Aintree, he will be

:23:49. > :23:58.

:23:58. > :24:06.hoping this fella can buck up things. There you see Saint Are.

:24:06. > :24:14.This horse looks really well in the paddock. Good looking, flashy sort.

:24:14. > :24:19.Dougie Costello, good rider. Borrowed Wings is number seven in

:24:19. > :24:28.there. Famous colours that I know well. I

:24:28. > :24:38.wore them to win the National on Rough Quest. Andrew's colours, yeah.

:24:38. > :24:44.

:24:44. > :24:53.Tom Cannon, nice young lad. Capable rider as well. They're making their

:24:53. > :24:58.way out on to the course proper. Jim.

:24:58. > :25:03.They're about to come out here, jumping 19 fences in all. Richard

:25:03. > :25:08.Dunwoody joining me here at the commentary point. Richard, a

:25:08. > :25:11.shocking blow for Ruby. To miss it twice in three years, Jim. You know,

:25:11. > :25:16.he will dust himself down and hope he will be back for Punchestown.

:25:16. > :25:24.They're off. Setting off over this three-mile journey. The tape goes

:25:24. > :25:28.down and Ballyvesey first to show from Cannington Brook. My Boy Paddy

:25:28. > :25:33.is there as well. They're all over the first safely. Tullamore Dew

:25:33. > :25:38.takes up a prominent position. Followed then by On Borrowed Wings.

:25:38. > :25:48.Out wider is Carrickboy. The first ditch and the leader gave it plenty

:25:48. > :25:52.

:25:52. > :26:02.of air. Further back is Noland, back with Brackloon High. A gap

:26:02. > :26:04.

:26:04. > :26:09.then to Hollinwell. The third fence and Ballyvesey. In third is my Boy

:26:09. > :26:14.Paddy followed by Saint Are and next by Tullamore Dew. Marufo over

:26:14. > :26:18.on the rail. Out wider is Carrickboy. Further back Ackertac

:26:18. > :26:25.from On Borrowed Wings. They're followed by on the inside getting

:26:25. > :26:30.through is Brackloon High. They head towards the back. On Borrowed

:26:30. > :26:36.Wings next in the centre from Battle Group and Noland, followed

:26:36. > :26:40.by Chapoturgeon and Hollinwell. They head to the fourth from

:26:40. > :26:45.Tullamore Dew, now seeing daylight on the outside and jumps up second.

:26:45. > :26:52.Chapoturgeon got in close back in the field. Jumping in third is

:26:52. > :26:57.Cannington Brook from Marufo and a gap to My Boy Paddy. A length

:26:57. > :27:05.further back is Ackertac. Followed by Battle Group. Further back on

:27:05. > :27:10.the inside Brackloon High. Followed next by Noland and Carrickboy. The

:27:10. > :27:16.second open ditch. The leaders jump it well. Further back is

:27:16. > :27:20.Chapoturgeon. They continue their journey, down towards the 7th.

:27:21. > :27:26.Ballyvesey on the inside. They jump together and land over three or

:27:26. > :27:30.four lengths clear of Marufo. Further back then at this stage we

:27:30. > :27:40.look for Chapoturgeon who is second last of the main group here as they

:27:40. > :27:40.

:27:40. > :27:44.head to the side of the course. Twiston-Davies not getting a

:27:44. > :27:52.comfortable ride off Ackertac. the cross cross fence on the first

:27:52. > :27:56.occasion. Ballyvesey over in the lead. The Hollinwell about five or

:27:56. > :28:01.six lengths behind the second last last horse. Tullamore Dew on the

:28:01. > :28:05.outside, two away Marufo, from in fourth Cannington Brook. They're

:28:05. > :28:14.followed next by Saint Are. They come to the 9th. Battle Group is

:28:14. > :28:18.behind them, leaders jump it well. On Borrowed Wings in the centre.

:28:18. > :28:25.Chapoturgeon starting to make some ground from Ackertac. They go over

:28:25. > :28:35.that open ditch. They're clear of My Boy Paddy and the Hollinwell. Up

:28:35. > :28:39.the home strait. Towards fence number 11. The leader is Ballyvesy

:28:39. > :28:48.from Tullamore Dew. On the inside is Marufo. They come to the 11th

:28:48. > :28:58.now. Tullamore Dew a bold jump on the outside. They go up and

:28:58. > :29:01.

:29:01. > :29:04.challenge Ballyvesy. Noland and Carrickboy. A gap to Brackloon High.

:29:04. > :29:08.At this point which would you like to be on? I have been watching

:29:08. > :29:13.Battle Group and Tom Scudamore, he has been hugging the inner and he

:29:13. > :29:19.has man making -- he has been making his way quietly through the

:29:19. > :29:28.group. They head to the back and to the 12th. Tullamore Dew on the

:29:28. > :29:33.outside of Ballycesy. Further back is Marufo. They continue their

:29:33. > :29:37.journey towards the next plain fence. Cannington Brook is next,

:29:37. > :29:41.followed by Battle Group the inside. They draw to the 13th Saint Are is

:29:41. > :29:47.further back from Noland. On the inside Chapoturgeon making a few

:29:47. > :29:54.places on the inside from Ackertac On Borrowed Wings is hard ridden.

:29:54. > :30:02.Carrickboy is losing ground. They head towards the next. Hollinwell

:30:02. > :30:09.is there. Brackloon High has been pulled up. Marufo has jumped to a

:30:09. > :30:13.narrow lead here from Ballycesy and Saint Are. Battle Group looming

:30:13. > :30:18.large. In the centre Cannington Brook has been pushed along with a

:30:18. > :30:28.white cap. Happen chap now appearing. They around that corner

:30:28. > :30:40.

:30:40. > :30:49.and race to the crossed fence which bit and coming into it well. Into

:30:49. > :30:57.the home straight with three left. Battle Group is now emerging. At

:30:57. > :31:01.the third last and St Ar moving up. Jumped is better -- St Are moving

:31:01. > :31:06.up. Jumped it better. They've kicked way from Cannington Brook.

:31:06. > :31:11.Coming now to the second last. Saint Are a narrow leader over it

:31:11. > :31:18.from Battle Group. Five away is Marufou battling on and

:31:18. > :31:24.Chapoturgeon. A Long Run before they reach the last. Saint Are on

:31:24. > :31:27.the far side. Battle Group veering to the right. At the last it is

:31:27. > :31:32.Saint Are on the far side, being grabbed by Battle Group. It's

:31:32. > :31:36.Battle Group on the near side. A nose in front. Coming back is Saint

:31:36. > :31:44.Are and Battle Group. Saint Are is out battling him and Saint Are will

:31:44. > :31:53.win. Saint Are has gone on to win it by a half length to Battle Group

:31:53. > :32:01.and then chap -- Chapoturgeon third. I don't think Ackertac has jumped

:32:01. > :32:11.the last. Neither has Tullamore Dew, neither has on borrowed weeks or

:32:11. > :32:13.

:32:13. > :32:20.The Hollingwell. Noel and my boy Paddy, who has also pulled up. The

:32:20. > :32:27.winner is trained by Tim Vaughan and his 100th winner of the season.

:32:27. > :32:35.What an achievement. Second number five, Tom Scudamore, Battle Group

:32:35. > :32:41.and Paddy Brennan on Chapoturgeon. What a battle it was and when it

:32:41. > :32:47.got to a battle, it was Saint Are who out-battled Battle Group and

:32:47. > :32:52.put his neck in front to win it well. As they Cross The Line, it

:32:53. > :32:59.was a Titanic struggle. It was, Jim. As you said, Saint Are wanted it

:32:59. > :33:02.more. He's really stuck at the task well and got a little bit to his

:33:02. > :33:11.left going to the last and taken Battle Group's ground a little, but

:33:11. > :33:18.Tom was able to switch around and he really did outbattle him, but

:33:18. > :33:22.Saint Are. Dougie Costello is the winning jockey. Rishi with him now.

:33:22. > :33:29.Just talking about how tough this horse is. He isn't blessed with a

:33:29. > :33:32.turn of foot, but has a lot of heart? Very tough. Tim's horses

:33:32. > :33:37.haven't been right through the middle of the year, so he's well

:33:37. > :33:42.handicapped. Jumps and stays and went for the win going to the

:33:42. > :33:46.second last. Nurtured him and left him. Very tough and stays. He's won

:33:46. > :33:51.twice around one of the quickest courses in the country. Yeah, but

:33:51. > :33:58.it's a stayer's track here. It's furore long from the bend and we

:33:58. > :34:03.went a good, strong, even gallop. It takes stayers to win around here.

:34:03. > :34:07.Cheltenham didn't suit probably. The big undulating track and a big

:34:07. > :34:13.horse like this, he is suited more. The perfect preparation for running

:34:13. > :34:19.Postmaster in the National? He's ten and has plenty of experience.

:34:19. > :34:23.Hopefully he gets a good spin around and me as well. Good luck.

:34:23. > :34:27.Thank you. Dougie there, winning jockey on a horse who loves his

:34:27. > :34:32.track. Richard, when they came to the last they were absolutely

:34:32. > :34:37.locked together. It was interesting, wasn't it, over the last? There was

:34:37. > :34:43.no strike there for Dougie and he got in the bottom. Battle Group has

:34:43. > :34:47.jumped it better and pinged it. Here we are. You can see, he's in

:34:47. > :34:52.short, whereas Battle Group has got a real, good jump. Landed running

:34:52. > :34:58.and gone a neck up. But as we have said, really has stuck his head out

:34:59. > :35:04.well. Really grabbed hold of him and set him about his business and

:35:04. > :35:09.given him a great ride. Able to get back into it and win it.

:35:09. > :35:13.winning trainer has brought up a century of winners, Tim Vaughan.

:35:13. > :35:18.Had a bit of a disappointment, but much better. A horse who loves it

:35:18. > :35:23.here? Definitely does. Third run here. Won two and second too, so

:35:23. > :35:29.absolutely over the moon. 100th win of the season. Lovely way to spend

:35:29. > :35:35.that. You have Postmaster in the next? Yeah. First run this year.

:35:35. > :35:39.Obviously a bit of a disappointment for the others, but excited to have

:35:39. > :35:43.a runner. Sounds like you're already hoarse, but hopefully

:35:43. > :35:53.you'll be able to shout one home. We'll enjoy tonight. Thank you very

:35:53. > :35:58.

:35:58. > :36:01.much. I've come around now to the saddling boxes, where the runners

:36:01. > :36:06.for the Grand National, some of them already being taken into the

:36:06. > :36:10.boxes and being saddled. We'll talk to some of the key contenders. The

:36:10. > :36:14.horses looking well. Four greys, so lovely to see them around here. We

:36:14. > :36:24.are not far away. The next race will be the John Smith's Grand

:36:24. > :36:25.

:36:25. > :36:29.National. We'll get you in the mood. Springs comes to consciousness and

:36:29. > :36:38.sets the pulse racing. Across the good to firm of these thrilling

:36:38. > :36:45.fields. Where plot was to extend beyond the mortal realm. And

:36:45. > :36:48.moistened palms creased betting slips between fingers crossed.

:36:48. > :36:53.Reminiscence from the big chair as flight without wings tearing

:36:53. > :37:00.through the air. Flashbacks cut- aways to monochrome collisions. Men

:37:00. > :37:05.for all seasons, jockey for position. The commotion of emotion,

:37:05. > :37:11.the first to show, electric sprinters, the ready, steady, go.

:37:11. > :37:18.The sheepskin noseband, the blinkered view, the mythical flying

:37:18. > :37:25.horse, the too-good to be true. The ripple of mussel and pound of flesh,

:37:25. > :37:29.the young, old, tired, fresh. Owners, trainers, runners, riders,

:37:30. > :37:34.debt certs, favourites, fancied outsiders, it's a noble beauty that

:37:34. > :37:41.serves to widen the smile. This is about place, culture and nothing

:37:41. > :37:51.comes within a mile. The geography has never changed for the Wise Man

:37:51. > :37:55.

:37:55. > :37:59.or the fool, it's in the country's DNA, Aintree, Liverpool. Gives you

:37:59. > :38:03.goosebumps. There is Becher's Brook. The sixth and 22nd fence. They go

:38:03. > :38:08.too circuits around here, but one they jump only once is this one,

:38:08. > :38:11.The Chair, biggest on the course, five foot two on it. Big spread.

:38:11. > :38:16.The really extraordinary thing about this race is the 90-degree

:38:16. > :38:20.turn they have to make at the Canal Turn. Ruby Walsh did it brilliantly

:38:20. > :38:24.yesterday. Sadly, the news here if you are just joining us is he will

:38:24. > :38:27.not be riding in the Grand National. He had a heavy fall in the hurdle

:38:27. > :38:32.race. He's not riding on his own and that's a great shame. Second

:38:33. > :38:35.time in three years that's happened to Ruby, but he's all right. His

:38:35. > :38:40.helmet was cracked and therefore they said absolutely not. Richard

:38:40. > :38:44.Pitman is down here with me in the pre-parade ring. Lovely to get so

:38:45. > :38:48.close. Clare, doesn't it strike you how many horses have got nosebands

:38:48. > :38:53.on to keep their mouths shut, because you need them to answer

:38:53. > :38:57.your questions, if you say go, they need to do so. According To Pete is

:38:57. > :39:02.the most lively one. He's been Spocking out going around. Viking

:39:02. > :39:07.Blond has been bucking and stamping on the ground and coming by us this

:39:07. > :39:13.is Swing Bill. Almost white. You can see the cheek pieces and behind

:39:13. > :39:17.Tatenen there. Here comes According To Pete. He's a lovely horse.

:39:17. > :39:23.Malcolm has had two runners this week and both won, Cape Tribulation

:39:23. > :39:27.and At A Glance and According To Pete could give him a huge chance

:39:27. > :39:35.and Peter Nelson is here and Sandra. I came delivering papers with you.

:39:35. > :39:40.How are you feeling? Very nervous. Sandra, you all right? No. She'll

:39:40. > :39:46.be going to hide in a moment. are wearing your lucky tweed coat?

:39:46. > :39:51.I've got everything that I normally wear on. It's all a bit much. It

:39:51. > :39:55.will be great. Look at him. There is Ruth and Malcolm's daughter

:39:55. > :39:59.helping up and Tina, if you stay there Adrian for one second, I'll

:39:59. > :40:03.nip in and chat. Tina, everything all right? Grand. Everything fine.

:40:03. > :40:07.Ruth, what are you thinking now? Not a lot. I'm trying not to. It

:40:07. > :40:10.gets a bit nerve racking at this point. The coolest person in this

:40:10. > :40:15.team is the horse, According To Pete. There's not a bother on him.

:40:15. > :40:19.He's not very big, but a lovely neck on him in front of him

:40:19. > :40:25.Andhaary will have his first ride on board him, so lots there. Alfa

:40:25. > :40:29.Beat, who I've picked out in the Sweepstake. We have seen Swing Bill

:40:29. > :40:33.before, but it's a real buzz and as you can tell from Sandra and Peter,

:40:33. > :40:37.they are getting very wound up and nervous, but this is the dream for

:40:37. > :40:39.them to have a horse running in the Grand National and According To

:40:40. > :40:43.Pete will have so much support from the village, where their friends

:40:43. > :40:46.will all be watching in the pub there and fingers crossed we hope

:40:46. > :40:56.he runs well. Here is the field then for the John Smith's Grand

:40:56. > :40:56.

:40:56. > :43:46.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

:43:47. > :43:51.Llewellyn here is doing his duty as assistant trainer to Nigel Twiston-

:43:51. > :43:55.Davies. Nigel is Hello Bud. Are you in charge of Viking Blond? He's

:43:55. > :44:00.looking great. Very happy. I'll let Nigel put the saddle on. If it

:44:00. > :44:04.comes off, I blame him. Do you give advice to the jockeys? We chat to

:44:04. > :44:11.both of them. Different instructions, but you have to have

:44:11. > :44:17.a few plans in this race. Plan A doesn't always go right. Exactlyly.

:44:17. > :44:23.-- exactly. Adapt. Yes. Good luck tow. Richard Pitman is in with

:44:23. > :44:28.Johnjo and Synchronised. The great thing about Synchronised I've

:44:28. > :44:32.noticed, he has been going around like an old sheep. He's absolutely

:44:32. > :44:36.totally unphased by any of this razzamataz. I think he probably

:44:36. > :44:40.would saddle himself, but JonJo is disappearing behind the tail and

:44:40. > :44:45.checking on the plating there. This horse is a Gold Cup winner, to come

:44:45. > :44:48.here, it's so exciting and even on top weight of eleven stone ten he's

:44:48. > :44:53.well in. Is that attitude? Or is that attitude? Maybe that's the

:44:53. > :45:00.secret to his success, that he doesn't get geoed up before the

:45:00. > :45:04.race. -- geed up before the race. JonJo celebrated his 60th birthday

:45:04. > :45:10.yesterday and rode in the race a few times. This would be an

:45:10. > :45:14.extraordinary success for Synchronised. He says, "I don't

:45:14. > :45:19.want to come out. Can't I just stay?" next to him, this is

:45:19. > :45:22.Shakalakaboomboom. Nicky Henderson has had the most amazing day with

:45:22. > :45:26.three winners, the first three races and this is a bit of a star

:45:26. > :45:31.and you've trained himel for this? Well, he doesn't know that, but

:45:31. > :45:39.yeah, we have. He enjoyed the Topham last year, so we always said

:45:39. > :45:43.this would be his goal for the year. It's quite a narrow goal. It is.

:45:43. > :45:48.It's a tricky one to set yourself, but we wish you well. The day

:45:48. > :45:51.couldn't have gone better. In concompliance and Ballabriggs

:45:51. > :45:54.heading by. This is Viking Blond. So fresh and well. You don't want

:45:54. > :45:58.to stand near the Beckend because he's bucking and kicking the Rare

:45:58. > :46:01.Bob looking well. You can see all the lads and lasses looking after

:46:01. > :46:06.the horses. They're the ones that spend all the time at home. A lot

:46:07. > :46:11.ride them at home. Got up early. Some have come - the Irish in

:46:11. > :46:14.particular - come down a few days ago and spent a few nights here.

:46:14. > :46:18.Once they're saddled they'll make the walk down into the paddock,

:46:18. > :46:21.which will be packed with 40 different owners and trainers in

:46:21. > :46:31.there. The jockeys finding it difficult to get through. We'll

:46:31. > :47:08.

:47:08. > :47:13.difficult to pick the winner. It's difficult to get a bet on. Look at

:47:13. > :47:21.this. There are two form Erwiners in the race, Ballabriggs, the other

:47:21. > :47:30.Monday mopbl who won in 2009 -- Mon Mome, who won at 100-1 in 2009.

:47:30. > :47:33.Vida Bingham is here to support him. She will be giving the leg-up to

:47:33. > :47:40.Aiden Coleman. We'll hear from the jockeys on how they prepare and

:47:40. > :47:45.ride the Grand National and what they think of their chances.

:47:45. > :47:48.always remember as a kid I was very excited about it. I remember

:47:48. > :47:58.watching it in my grandparents' house doing the commentary. Always

:47:58. > :48:03.a joy. The one that is set apart from any other. It's just the

:48:03. > :48:08.National. The whole word watches it. I think the night before the nerves

:48:08. > :48:14.start. So much anticipation. get butterflies. Joorbgs calm

:48:14. > :48:19.before the storm. Everything is brewing up -- Calm before the storm.

:48:19. > :48:23.Everything is brewing up. helicopters Up Above. The sound.

:48:23. > :48:29.much colour. It feels like you're flying. My wife worries about me.

:48:29. > :48:37.Dreaming of getting a clear run around. As a child that's all

:48:37. > :48:42.you've ever dreamed about. Have you ridden in the Grand National?

:48:42. > :48:51.can't do it without the horse. National is the ultimate. Right,

:48:51. > :48:54.come on. Is it going to happen for you or is it not? You heard Ruby

:48:54. > :48:59.Walsh there, the real sadness he's not going to be riding this year.

:48:59. > :49:03.Had a crashing fall on Zarkandar. He's been replaced. Ted Walsh, his

:49:03. > :49:09.father, also responsible for Seabass, who your daughter Katie

:49:09. > :49:13.rides firstly, have you talked to Ruby, but how is he? Sore. It's

:49:13. > :49:18.disappointed. It's part of the game. It's not the first time. Two years

:49:18. > :49:22.ago he broke his arm. How about Seabass, an awful lot of money for

:49:22. > :49:25.him this morning? I don't know where it's coming back, he has no

:49:25. > :49:30.better chance than yesterday morning, but somebody must have

:49:30. > :49:34.latched on to him. I don't know where the money is from, but he has

:49:34. > :49:38.his chance. The question mark around four-and-a-half. I would be

:49:38. > :49:42.happy if Katie comes back in with a big smile on her face and loved it

:49:42. > :49:47.that much. For the second time to have one of your children riding in

:49:47. > :49:51.the race? Particularly to have your young daughter, it's a bit more

:49:51. > :49:57.pressure. Herself and Nina, two young girls, they are light. You

:49:57. > :50:00.hope they get around. At this stage I'm very much a father and not a

:50:00. > :50:04.trainer. Good luck. She's a very good event rider, which does help

:50:04. > :50:08.in a race like this, where you have to adapt to the size and spread of

:50:08. > :50:14.the fences too. The build-up is we are getting close. Seabass there.

:50:14. > :50:18.We'll go to the jockeys' room and join Mick. We are here in the

:50:18. > :50:23.jockeys' room. Jockeys buzzing around. It's chaos in here. You can

:50:23. > :50:27.see them behind me all getting ready. You can see just poor Ruby

:50:27. > :50:31.Walsh in the foreground. He's absolutely gutted. You can see

:50:31. > :50:38.behind him Paul Carberry, and Barry Geraghty on Shakalakaboomboom.

:50:38. > :50:43.Previous winner. Just exchanging a few little secrets. Paul Maloney in

:50:43. > :50:49.the corner, on Cappa Bleu. And raw Lynch is on Treacle and Andrew

:50:49. > :50:56.Tinkler has picked up a spare. You can senile Slippers Madden. He has

:50:56. > :50:59.won the race on Numbersixvalverde. David Casey and Wayne. Brian,

:50:59. > :51:03.another first-timer and Nina Carberry. She rides

:51:03. > :51:07.Organisedconfusion. Could it be here day today? Down here we have

:51:07. > :51:13.Davie Conlon, rides Becauseicouldntsee. Going forward,

:51:13. > :51:19.we have young Ritchie Mclernon and Giles Cross in the corner and Paddy

:51:19. > :51:23.Brennan. Vic there and Brian Cooper and Rare Bob and Seany coming in.

:51:23. > :51:28.Over here in this corner you have the oldest jockey, Andrew Thornton.

:51:28. > :51:33.He looks very relaxed, doesn't he? He doesn't look as relaxed as Timmy

:51:33. > :51:37.Murphy does in the corner. He's asleep. He rides Weird Al. Go up to

:51:37. > :51:42.this corner. Back up where I used to sit. This is where AP, Daryll

:51:42. > :51:46.Jacob, I can just see him getting organised. The youngest jockey, Sam

:51:46. > :51:49.Twiston-Davies, had a few goals already, but up here in the top

:51:49. > :51:55.corner, Dominic Elsworth, Tom Scudamore, very narrowly beaten in

:51:55. > :52:01.the last race. Jamie Moore getting rid. Dickie Johnson, 5 goes. Planet

:52:01. > :52:06.Of Sound. Noel Fehily in there and AP McCoy, the champion jockey. He

:52:06. > :52:11.rides Synchronised. Could it be his turn again? Trust me, in here it is

:52:12. > :52:16.Organisedconfusion! One of the last horses to make his way down to the

:52:16. > :52:23.parade ring and one of the last to be saddled is last year's winner,

:52:23. > :52:33.Ballabriggs. Of all the horses he's standout. Looking fabulous. Ros

:52:33. > :52:35.

:52:35. > :52:39.stepbs illed into his quarters. -- a rose stencilled into his quarters.

:52:39. > :52:43.Such a joy to be here ahead of the Grand National. Seeing the horses

:52:43. > :52:47.here with Richard Dunwoody. Seeing some of the horses with big chances.

:52:47. > :52:52.Just going past us, number 39, Hello Bud, the oldest horse in the

:52:52. > :52:58.race. I've drawn him in the Sweepstake. He's looking well and

:52:58. > :53:02.I'm sure he'll give Sam a very, very good ride. Talking about Tom

:53:02. > :53:07.Taaffing e's runner. His grandfather trained the winner and

:53:07. > :53:17.his father rode two. Number 22 over there. He really saying on well

:53:17. > :53:21.

:53:21. > :53:27.there. -- Tom Taaffe. According To Pete is the little one in there.

:53:27. > :53:33.He's not the biggest to be going around over the fences. I watched

:53:33. > :53:36.him at Haydock and he likes that track and that was over the hurdles,

:53:36. > :53:42.those immovable hurdles and he was really good over them. He's made a

:53:42. > :53:49.really nice chaser. We'll look at a few more. Number 12, Tatenen. One

:53:49. > :53:54.of the big outsiders. Behind him is the horse that has me to carry in

:53:54. > :53:57.terms of my selection, number 20, Rare Bob. Ran good races in the

:53:57. > :54:01.past. Here's a horse, 18, that a lot of people are talking about,

:54:01. > :54:06.Always Right. Even though he's been pulled up in the last two runs.

:54:06. > :54:10.Looks fine. Been pulled up, but he's had a wind problem and been

:54:10. > :54:13.operated on, so you can see a lot better from him today. One of the

:54:13. > :54:18.four greys, four, Neptune Collonges. I like Neptune Collonges. He has

:54:18. > :54:24.got some great form. Third and fourth in Gold Cups. Could run a

:54:24. > :54:30.big race. He could do. The Gold Cup winner, Synchronised. Walking away

:54:30. > :54:38.from us. Richard Pitman was saying in the paddock how Switched Off he

:54:38. > :54:45.was. Certainly hasn't switched Onyett. He's a Bute -- switched on

:54:45. > :54:50.yet. He's a beautiful horse. We'll look at some of the others. Giles

:54:50. > :54:55.Cross, number 34. He's a horse that probably would have preferred a bit

:54:55. > :55:00.softer ground, but four-and-a-half miles, probably necessity gaits

:55:00. > :55:06.that. Certainly. We were saying at the head of the programme, I think

:55:06. > :55:11.the ground will be too fast. I think he wants it heavy. Dennis

:55:11. > :55:14.O'Regan was hoping to ride him, but couldn't do the weight so is on

:55:14. > :55:18.Black Apalachi. The horses are looking in good shape. Nothing is

:55:18. > :55:22.negative at the moment. Made my way down into the paddock. You can see

:55:22. > :55:27.the mass of people around and Nicky here with the Shakalakaboomboom

:55:27. > :55:32.team. JP over there, who has got a handful of runners and Graham Wylie,

:55:32. > :55:38.due to have two runners, but Prince De Beauchene went wrong and On His

:55:38. > :55:44.Ownened he's not running in your name. A good friend of mine bid for

:55:44. > :55:53.him at a charity auction, and I'm delighted for him and he'll run a

:55:53. > :55:59.big race. Where is he? He's over here. Can I say hello? Hello.

:55:59. > :56:04.exciting is this? Very exciting. You're a rugby man? Yes, but I love

:56:04. > :56:11.horses too. Fantastic. Bit of a late drama and change, because Ruby

:56:11. > :56:17.was due on? With the other horse too, but Paul is a great jockey.

:56:17. > :56:20.wish you well. Thank you. Thank you. Fantastic thing you are doing in

:56:20. > :56:28.terms of raising money. I've mentioned Shakalakaboomboom. If we

:56:28. > :56:35.make our way over here, Beryl McCain, Ginger's widow is here.

:56:35. > :56:39.Beryl, I had a look at Ballabriggs, he looks magnificent. He does. Look

:56:39. > :56:43.110%%. What is your feeling about him this year? Well, we are

:56:43. > :56:48.expecting a really good run and I hope he comes back safe and sound.

:56:48. > :56:55.He's got a look of Red Rum, maybe it's the noseband. Well, no, he has

:56:55. > :56:59.got a lot of presence. He's amazing. He's a lovely horse. Very proud to

:56:59. > :57:05.have him in the yard. It's lovely to talk to you and very emotional

:57:05. > :57:09.for the family. The first Grand National woupbt Ginger, who died --

:57:09. > :57:12.without Ginger, who died last year, and we hope he does the family

:57:12. > :57:18.proud. Thank you. The jockeys are making their way through the crowd

:57:18. > :57:24.and into the paddock and led by last year's winner, Jason Maguire.

:57:24. > :57:28.Bary Geraghty trying to trip him up. A roar from the crowd as they come

:57:28. > :57:34.out. Andrew Thornton, oldest jockey in the field there. Andrew Lynch

:57:34. > :57:41.having his second ride. Rare Bob's rider, Brian Cooper, his first ride.

:57:41. > :57:45.Coming out next is James Reveley, having his third on Always Right.

:57:45. > :57:52.Jamie Moore, and Dougie Costello already won. Postmaster for him. AP,

:57:52. > :58:01.on Synchronised. In the blue cap, just behind, David Casey, 13th ride

:58:01. > :58:06.in the race on Quiscover Fontaine. They walk out to pose for this

:58:06. > :58:10.photograph in front of the paddock. It's one of the traditional things

:58:10. > :58:17.that happens here at Aintree and I think it's a wonderful tradition as

:58:17. > :58:23.well. All 40 will pose and that picture locked away in the archives

:58:23. > :58:27.forever. Ruby Walsh unfortunately is not with them. Andrew Tinkler is

:58:27. > :58:33.the new name who has joined them. He's In The Pink jacket. He's right

:58:33. > :58:37.up the back there. He has picked up a last-minute ride on The Midnight

:58:37. > :58:41.Club. He'll be thrilled. Every jockey in the game wants to ride in

:58:41. > :58:51.this race. These 0 will feel very, very privileged. Who will come home

:58:51. > :59:27.

:59:27. > :59:33.to get on board for the race. Just coming behind us we'll take a

:59:33. > :59:38.closer look at Seabass. Richard, you were quite keen on this horse?

:59:38. > :59:42.Impressed by him and On His Own, two really lovely chasing horses.

:59:42. > :59:50.Should be looking forward to the ride on this horse. Number 13,

:59:50. > :59:55.Seabass. Just in front is number 23, The Midnight Club now ridden by

:59:55. > :00:00.Andrew Tinkler taking over from Paul Townend. He looks well. He

:00:00. > :00:10.rubbed one early last year and a little careful with Ruby but

:00:10. > :00:20.

:00:20. > :00:28.Taking a look at some of the others. Another of the greys, Alfa Beat.

:00:28. > :00:32.Alfa Beat, yes. He's won two Kerry Nationals this horse. He really

:00:32. > :00:37.appreciates this better ground. Give us one horse that just stands

:00:37. > :00:43.out to you. For me On His Own. To me he is the most impressive

:00:43. > :00:46.looking horse in the paddock. Nerves are jangling here. The

:00:46. > :00:49.Nelson family who own and bred According To Pete. Anne on the

:00:49. > :00:52.right and her husband Peter, they delivered the papers this morning,

:00:52. > :01:00.they say they will do again tomorrow morning, they might be on

:01:00. > :01:05.the front of them. A big gang here. This is all the racing club, how

:01:05. > :01:10.are you feeling? Sorry, I trod on your toe! I am fine. Good, yeah. I

:01:10. > :01:13.am not riding him! Exactly, Felix is. This should give you a real

:01:13. > :01:17.thrill. Definitely, can't wait. What is your plan, where do you

:01:17. > :01:21.expect to be? Just line up with them and he might be outpaced early

:01:21. > :01:27.on, but try and get him jumping and travelling and see from there.

:01:27. > :01:31.Fingers crossed for you, good luck. And over here, this is interesting.

:01:31. > :01:38.This is Midnight Haze for Kim Bailey. This is a big syndicate.

:01:38. > :01:41.Who is in charge of the syndicate? Is it you, Kim? Hello, how are you.

:01:41. > :01:45.Very nervous. You have brought a great gang of people with you.

:01:45. > :01:51.They're a lot calmer than I am. They're having a great day. How did

:01:51. > :01:56.you get tempted into this racing game? A long time ago I bought a

:01:56. > :02:00.share and after a few months worked with Peter for about ten years and

:02:00. > :02:06.started up with Kim a few years ago and everything's going great.

:02:06. > :02:10.stuff. Kim knows how to win a Grand National. Did it with Mr Frisk. Not

:02:10. > :02:16.had that many runners recently. They've all run very well. A long

:02:16. > :02:20.time ago 1990, sadly. What are you feeling about this year? He has an

:02:20. > :02:24.outside chance. But he will love the course, jumped well. Will give

:02:24. > :02:27.Sean a good ride and the members of the partnership a good day out.

:02:28. > :02:32.Sean will be getting on shortly. About now, actually. The colours of

:02:32. > :02:39.Mon Mome here, Venetia Williams about to give Aidan Coleman a leg

:02:39. > :02:44.up on to the winner of this race in 2009 and he was 100-1. Chicago Grey,

:02:44. > :02:49.this horse has a chance. Trained by Gordon Elliot who won the race with

:02:49. > :02:53.his first runner, youngest trainer to have won it with Silver Birch.

:02:53. > :02:58.You can see they're getting ready to sound the fanfare which will

:02:58. > :03:02.welcome the horses on to the course. Rishi is having a close look at

:03:02. > :03:09.these horses. Well, we are seeing Killyglen

:03:09. > :03:13.wandering past and Richard, you liked him. Yeah, Down Royal, he won

:03:13. > :03:18.there. Running well in the race last year. You would have to say if

:03:18. > :03:24.he runs the same sort of race he will have a great chance. Paul

:03:24. > :03:27.Carberry about to get the leg up soon on Chicago Grey. Won at

:03:27. > :03:37.Cheltenham last year and he is another one that is a potential

:03:37. > :03:39.

:03:39. > :03:47.winner. He stays. He will have a magician in the saddle with Paul

:03:47. > :03:51.Carberry. Katie Walsh on Seabass. Shaoeud -- I'd say she's really

:03:51. > :03:54.looking forward to. As jockeys we hate this milling around in the

:03:54. > :03:59.paddock. You want to get out there away from the crowd and start to

:03:59. > :04:06.focus on the race. OK. West End Rocker, with Wayne Hutchinson on

:04:06. > :04:10.board, who won other these fences earlier in the season. He loves the

:04:10. > :04:14.soft ground, I have a feeling it might be quick for him today.

:04:14. > :04:23.End Rocker, he has a chance but the ground perhaps against him.

:04:23. > :04:28.There's plenty of Welsh horses this year. Evan Williams has three in

:04:28. > :04:33.the race. State Of Play. He hardly ever runs except in this race.

:04:33. > :04:37.Haven't seen him since last year, hope springs eternal. Your best

:04:37. > :04:41.chance must be Cappa Bleu. never know. Jockeys get it wrong,

:04:41. > :04:45.don't they. What is your thinking as trainer? It's the Grand National

:04:45. > :04:52.and anything can happen, Clare. It would be silly to think otherwise.

:04:52. > :04:55.Indeed. Now, Mick Fitzgerald was going off in search of Gordon

:04:55. > :04:59.Elliot, the trainer of Chicago Grey. Not sure where he has gone. While

:04:59. > :05:04.we try and find him, I will have a word with Venetia Williams, we did

:05:04. > :05:09.this just before Mon Mome won in 2009. How is he this year? He's in

:05:09. > :05:12.great form actually. Sarah has been telling me they had a job with the

:05:12. > :05:21.trotting up, he was so full of himself. I guess we saw it on

:05:21. > :05:27.Thursday with with always Waning, it's where some horses wake up.

:05:27. > :05:31.has a similar profile. So, we are very hopeful. He looks fantastic.

:05:31. > :05:35.Yeah, he is in great form. 12-year- olds have won this before, so we

:05:35. > :05:41.hope. Fingers crossed for you, thank you. The runners are making

:05:41. > :05:51.their way out. They'll circle in front of the grandstand. Let's

:05:51. > :05:58.

:05:58. > :06:08.check on the latest betting. money for Seabass. People are going

:06:08. > :06:20.

:06:20. > :06:26.along the line of bookies taking for riders and for punters, as the

:06:26. > :06:34.horses are parading, or getting into a parade. AP McCoy, having his

:06:34. > :06:41.17th ride in the race. A picture of serenity and calmness. He is well

:06:41. > :06:44.focused. He has the monkey off his back. He's won it already. It's

:06:44. > :06:51.important. Here is Katie Walsh, what a moment for her. Her first

:06:51. > :06:56.ride in the big race. On a horse who has been backed so heavily

:06:56. > :07:03.today. At one stage he was favourite, certainly challenging

:07:03. > :07:12.for for favouritism at the moment and trained by her father, Ted.

:07:12. > :07:17.Walking around too is Paul TownEnd, on On His Own. He has woman in for

:07:17. > :07:23.the -- he has come in for the change of ride, Ruby Walsh was

:07:23. > :07:30.injured and had to forego that mount. It's been a change of riders.

:07:30. > :07:33.Paul Townend having his third mount in the National. Shakalakaboomboom

:07:33. > :07:39.going through there. There is the man, Jason Maguire, he won it last

:07:39. > :07:49.year. Can he deliver back-to-back victories on Ballabriggs today?

:07:49. > :08:26.

:08:26. > :08:31.order, and also in weight order. This year it's the winner of the

:08:31. > :08:38.Cheltenham Gold Cup, Synchronised, the last top weight to win was Red

:08:38. > :08:44.Rum. Ballabriggs, a brilliant winner

:08:44. > :08:49.last year. This fella is fancied. Donald McCain also has in the field

:08:49. > :08:52.Weird Al. Timmy Murphy knows how to win a Grand National. He will be

:08:52. > :08:59.very patient on this horse who can be classy on his day. Neptune

:08:59. > :09:05.Collonges, many people backed this fella because he is grey. Behind

:09:05. > :09:15.him we find Calgary Bay, trained by Henrietta Knight who guided Best

:09:15. > :09:17.

:09:17. > :09:24.Mate to victory. Alfa Beat, Davy Russell has had nine goes so far,

:09:24. > :09:28.he will be hoping it's 10th time lucky. Richard Johnson is on Planet

:09:28. > :09:33.Of Sound for Philip Hobbs. This horse was second in the Hennessy.

:09:33. > :09:38.Black Apalachi, this fella knows his way around here. This is one of

:09:38. > :09:41.four runners for Dessie Hughes, the trainer. We talked to Evan Williams

:09:41. > :09:51.with three. This is the outsider of the three, Deep Purple, as Evan

:09:51. > :09:55.

:09:55. > :10:01.says anything can happen in the National. Junior, owned by a

:10:01. > :10:05.Midland racing club. Chicago Grey, he will definitely stay. Tatenen,

:10:05. > :10:09.ridden by the oldest jockey in the race. Andrew Thornton says don't

:10:09. > :10:13.worry about his price, he will run better than that. More money for

:10:13. > :10:23.Seabass, 8-1 favourite. From around 20 this morning. It's a huge gamble

:10:23. > :10:24.

:10:24. > :10:27.on Katie Walsh. Shakalakaboomboom, owned by Liam Pwresden. West End

:10:27. > :10:31.Rocker, was supported a lot earlier in the week when we thought there

:10:31. > :10:34.would be rain. Wayne Hutchinson gets on with the horse brilliantly.

:10:34. > :10:37.According To Pete, this one ridden by young Harry Haynes, first ride

:10:37. > :10:42.in the race. This fella has a right chance.

:10:42. > :10:46.Now the horse that Ruby Walsh was due to ride but Paul Townend

:10:46. > :10:53.replaces him, On His Own. He could have the most potential in the

:10:53. > :10:56.field. Always Right, trained by John and owned by him, John a

:10:56. > :11:02.popular man in the north-east. Cappa Bleu has been prepared for

:11:02. > :11:11.this race, third in a Welsh National. He is ten years old.

:11:11. > :11:15.Bob, first rider in the race for Bryan Cooper. Good, capable rider.

:11:15. > :11:19.Then we find Nina Carberry who has completed all her rides in the

:11:19. > :11:25.Grand National so far. Could be her best chance ever on

:11:26. > :11:32.Organisedconfusion. 20-1. Treacle, this one trained by Tom, his father

:11:32. > :11:36.won the race twice as a jockey. This fella ridden by Andrew Lynch.

:11:36. > :11:38.Tony McCoy holding his arm there. He's clearly fallen off

:11:38. > :11:47.Synchronised. Something's happened on the way to the start. He is

:11:47. > :11:54.holding his arm. Drama here before the start. You can see the grass on

:11:54. > :11:59.as well. Rishi, what happened? saw Tony McCoy on Synchronised just

:11:59. > :12:06.- Richard and I were actually just standing nearby. I was watching one

:12:06. > :12:11.way and Richard the other. What happened? He just tucked under the

:12:11. > :12:18.tape. A couple of them tuck under the tape. This is low here. It's

:12:18. > :12:24.amazing. Mon Mome, and he is doing exactly the same. So, he's given AP

:12:24. > :12:28.a nasty fall. But he says he is OK. The horse is loose and AP is

:12:28. > :12:34.shouting out, has he been caught yet? He hasn't. Hopefully someone

:12:34. > :12:37.will grab hold of Synchronised ASAP. AP McCoy just desperate there

:12:37. > :12:41.because he doesn't know how long it's going to take for Synchronised

:12:41. > :12:45.- yes you can probably lipread that. Doesn't know how long it will take

:12:45. > :12:48.for Synchronised to be caught. There is the owner. We will look at

:12:48. > :12:56.how it happened. As Richard was explaining, just coming under where

:12:56. > :13:00.the tape goes across and there is the line for the start. He jinxed

:13:00. > :13:04.at it and Synchronised gallops off loose. He is desperately trying to

:13:04. > :13:07.hang on. He knows everything involved with this race, if a horse

:13:07. > :13:11.gets away, you might struggle to get it back. The way Synchronised

:13:11. > :13:14.was going to the start, he is not doing himself any damage but he is

:13:14. > :13:22.a long way from the start of this race. One thing of the improvements

:13:22. > :13:25.they've done, one thing very very haven't yet done is provided any

:13:25. > :13:31.outriders. There are police riders who bring the winner in, but in

:13:31. > :13:35.Dubai, for example... That is Ed Burn. Famous photographer. He has a

:13:35. > :13:40.bit of horse sense, he will make sure we catch him. Good lad, Ed.

:13:40. > :13:46.Playing his part in Grand National history. He looks won the -- none

:13:46. > :13:50.the worse for that, Synchronised. AP holding his arm there. You know

:13:50. > :13:57.he is made of stern stuff, AP and it will take more than a kick on

:13:57. > :14:03.the elbow to stop him riding this fella. AP, an MBE and OBE, been

:14:03. > :14:07.champion jockey 16 times. On course for a 17th successive championship.

:14:07. > :14:11.Now he will have to be checked over by the doctor. Doesn't matter how

:14:11. > :14:14.easy a fall, you will be checked by the doctor to make sure everything

:14:14. > :14:19.is OK. Looking at him, I think whatever damage is superficial.

:14:19. > :14:22.two senior jockeys, Ruby and AP having the last-minute dramas and

:14:22. > :14:25.goes again to emphasise, you cannot tell what's going to happen in a

:14:25. > :14:30.run-up to the Grand National or during the race. That meant we left

:14:30. > :14:33.the parade midway through. We will try and get the rest when we can.

:14:33. > :14:37.Obviously, you have seen Synchronised has been caught and

:14:37. > :14:44.Tony McCoy is waiting for a lift, someone's going to bring a car

:14:44. > :14:48.around. Someone's going to get a car, he will jump on and head down,

:14:48. > :14:57.and ride Synchronised back. He was calling for Jonjo as well to come

:14:57. > :15:06.out. There are a lot of vets here and he will be checked over. Yeah,

:15:06. > :15:09.other runners as quickly as we can. Synchronised there being led back

:15:09. > :15:15.and the good thing is he didn't take off too fast and that's the

:15:15. > :15:20.key. Aren't they lucky he is a nice horse. We were talking about him

:15:20. > :15:25.about how sleepy he looked and nothing bothered him. He gets a

:15:25. > :15:29.spook at the start line and that's what happened. AP wasn't expecting

:15:29. > :15:32.it. When you are riding short obviously, you know, and you are

:15:32. > :15:36.not expecting something, just that change of direction can send you

:15:36. > :15:39.out the side door. The rest of the field there are gathering down

:15:39. > :15:43.towards the start. There is Donald McCain, trainer of Ballabriggs and

:15:43. > :15:47.Weird Al. He is quite nervous, Donald. I deliberately didn't go

:15:47. > :15:52.near him, it was clear he didn't want to talk. He likes to keep away

:15:52. > :15:56.from the start. He finds a small area by himself. The thing is the

:15:56. > :15:59.jockeys with sense here will know that horse needs to be caught first.

:15:59. > :16:04.He will need to be checked over, the jockey will be checked. The

:16:04. > :16:08.sensible ones will know they can relax, wait. Let's see if it's had

:16:08. > :16:12.any effects on the markets, Synchronised getting loose. Here is

:16:12. > :16:19.John and Gary. The favourite, Seabass. What about that punter at

:16:19. > :16:23.the start of the programme, what did he have had on. �50,000 on

:16:23. > :16:31.Synchronised. The ups and downs. How about the punter who had

:16:31. > :16:35.�10,000 on Seabass at 16-1. It's now 8-1. We are trying to take you

:16:35. > :16:41.through some of the higher numbers we missed out in the parade. A few

:16:41. > :16:47.of them looking calm down there, some getting geed up. AP getting a

:16:47. > :16:51.lift to meet Synchronised and ride him back to the start.

:16:51. > :16:55.Synchronised is settled down again. He looks like he is about to be let

:16:55. > :16:59.out into the paddock, he is that relaxed. It's great, the one thing

:16:59. > :17:07.you want before a huge race is a horse expanding too much energy.

:17:07. > :17:12.has had a good look at the tpebss - - fences. He is enjoying himself.

:17:12. > :17:16.He has such a distinctive white streak down his face. There is his

:17:16. > :17:19.trainer, Jonjo O'Neill. He had an interesting time in the Grand

:17:19. > :17:23.National. Never got around in his rides. He has been lucky enough to

:17:23. > :17:27.win as a trainer. He had a few dramas he thought this race is just

:17:27. > :17:30.not destined to be mine. One of those at the higher numbers we

:17:30. > :17:33.didn't see in the parade was Killyglen. A lot of people feeling

:17:33. > :17:37.this horse has a great chance because he was going so so well in

:17:37. > :17:40.this race last year. Blundered just behind the leaders five out and

:17:41. > :17:44.fell at the fourth last. You can just see the vet there, just

:17:44. > :17:49.checking this horse over making sure he is OK. He has given him the

:17:49. > :17:53.all-clear by the looks of it. AP is keen to get on board. Just making

:17:53. > :17:58.sure that the heart rate is normal. That's procedure they'll take to

:17:58. > :18:04.make sure they've every base covered with this horse. The vet -

:18:04. > :18:08.I think they're saying not a bother on him. AP will get the leg up

:18:08. > :18:16.again and take him back. Talking about Killyglen, would you give him

:18:16. > :18:23.a chance? I would, I spoke to Robbie Power, he's very sweet on

:18:23. > :18:27.his chances. He is trained in Northern Ireland. Jonjo has arrived

:18:27. > :18:31.at the start, other trainers down here. You had a quick word, what

:18:31. > :18:36.did he say? He said he will be fine. Main thing is AP, he was holding

:18:36. > :18:40.his arm after that fall. It was quite nasty. But I think he will be

:18:40. > :18:45.fine. AP is the best position, because all the lads now are

:18:45. > :18:49.getting geed up at the start and AP is away from it all and he will

:18:49. > :18:55.just take the horse back. Synchronised and AP have been

:18:55. > :18:58.reunited, making their way to the start now.

:18:58. > :19:06.And Jonjo O'Neill has Arbor Supreme and Sunnyhillboy. Sunnyhillboy has

:19:07. > :19:14.a chance. He has a chance. This horse if he takes to it - this

:19:14. > :19:17.horse, ridden by Ritchie. He has to be a little more rhythmical in his

:19:17. > :19:22.jumping, doesn't almost look like he is the cleanest jumper, same

:19:22. > :19:25.could be said of Synchronised to be honest. Absolutely, but he looks

:19:25. > :19:31.well. You had a word with the jockeys before the race. What were

:19:31. > :19:35.you saying to them about trying to keep cool? Young Harry Haynes,

:19:35. > :19:40.young lad. He said to me about his horse, According To Pete, what did

:19:40. > :19:43.I think? I said, just look around you, look at the guys with

:19:43. > :19:46.experience, they're the ones you want to be following, they'll take

:19:46. > :19:51.you into the race. They've been there before. They know what not to

:19:51. > :19:54.do. That's basically what you need to know. What not to do.

:19:54. > :19:56.Synchronised nearly joining with them. You saw before that Giles

:19:56. > :20:01.Cross getting warm now and obviously the delay doesn't help.

:20:01. > :20:07.It's not a warm day. It's cool here. Giles Cross is fancied because of

:20:07. > :20:11.how well he has run in the Welsh National, probably the most extreme

:20:11. > :20:16.test of stamina outside the National. Ed worry is the ground

:20:16. > :20:21.might not be soft. This horse will jump around, if he does he is a

:20:21. > :20:31.major player. AP now doing with Synchronised what he wanted to do

:20:31. > :20:34.

:20:34. > :20:37.well from Synchronised. Just taking him down to look at the first,

:20:37. > :20:41.saying this is what you are going to do. Synchronised, I don't think

:20:41. > :20:46.he fancied it much. That's a silly thing to say, we don't know.

:20:46. > :20:55.wants to go back to the race. he is with the pack I am sure he

:20:55. > :21:05.will be fine. There's been a major mover in the market, Gary. It's

:21:05. > :21:08.

:21:08. > :21:14.Shakalakaboomboom. They're backing the public are backing every horse

:21:14. > :21:19.in the race, what a Grand National! In his own sweet time, Synchronised

:21:19. > :21:24.will now join the others at the start. We are running five minutes

:21:24. > :21:28.late here. At the start is Rishi. Donald McCain went out to the

:21:28. > :21:32.runners and found his two horses, Ballabriggs and Weird Al. He has

:21:32. > :21:36.had them led out of the pack. They're both getting warm. Tony

:21:36. > :21:41.McCoy arriving back at the start. Weird Al certainly on his toes and

:21:41. > :21:46.AP just taking his time. Showed the first to his horse and now he will

:21:46. > :21:53.have to get checked. Jonjo will look at him. The horse is in good

:21:53. > :21:57.form. Indeed. I suspect, you can see the jockeys

:21:57. > :22:02.all on edge and looking up at the start and saying when are you going

:22:02. > :22:06.to let us go. Oh, my word, no, it's a false start. They've charged the

:22:06. > :22:12.tapes. It's a false start. Midnight Haze going through them there and

:22:12. > :22:18.also Tharawaat. And that was just impatience. Sam

:22:18. > :22:22.Twiston-Davies, on Hello Bud. would think the oldest horse in the

:22:22. > :22:26.field would have more sense, but obviously not. It's a case I think

:22:26. > :22:35.of the horses thinking we are going and starting to go too soon. The

:22:35. > :22:38.tape was not up. Tharawaat's jockey lucky not to be parachuted out of

:22:38. > :22:43.the saddle. Let's hand over to Jim. That's it, they're coming in now

:22:43. > :22:50.and starting to line up. The starter is asking them to form a

:22:50. > :22:58.straight line. Calgary Bay is out the back, so too is Weird Al. Those

:22:58. > :23:08.right up at the tape are State Of Play, also there On His Own.

:23:08. > :23:12.They're adjusting the tape at the moment. West End Rocker went

:23:13. > :23:18.through. West End Rocker went through the tape on the far side.

:23:18. > :23:25.That's what happened on the first occasion, as well.

:23:25. > :23:28.It's natural exuberance, nervousness. Don't forget, these

:23:28. > :23:34.riders have been waiting there for a long time for Synchronised. So

:23:34. > :23:41.they're on edge. They're wound up ready to go. Ballabriggs looked

:23:41. > :23:45.very, very sweaty. He was feeling it. Now West End Rocker. Those

:23:45. > :23:50.standing well back, Calgary Bay and also Weird Al, they're miles behind

:23:50. > :23:56.the others. Junior is some way behind them and so too West End

:23:56. > :24:01.Rocker. Now they start to come forward. The starter I think - no,

:24:01. > :24:07.the ones out wide, Alfa Beat and also Sunnyhillboy have been turned

:24:07. > :24:13.side on. He is sitting back, the starter, and just saying relax.

:24:13. > :24:18.They still haven't tightened the tape, that's what's happening.

:24:18. > :24:28.The tape has to be right across the course and it has to be fixed into

:24:28. > :24:29.

:24:29. > :24:32.position. You can see them there. Now the runners are turning. There

:24:32. > :24:39.is the starter. He calls them forward once again this time

:24:39. > :24:43.they're off and running. Always Right near the inside with State Of

:24:43. > :24:47.Play and Killyglen first away. Giles Cross is going fast in the

:24:47. > :24:50.centre. Up there with Hello Bud and BecauseIcouldntsee. They're

:24:50. > :24:55.followed next in the field by Swing Bill who is wide, According To Pete

:24:55. > :25:00.is there as well. Viking Blond in the front with Tharawaat. They

:25:00. > :25:02.charge towards the first of 30 fences. We join Ian. Giles Cross

:25:02. > :25:07.and BecauseIcouldntsee amongst the leaders at the first. Viking Blond

:25:07. > :25:11.is the faller. Viking Blond has gone at the first. The remainder

:25:12. > :25:17.over OK. Arbor Supreme the back marker. Swing Bill up there and

:25:17. > :25:23.State Of Play. Then Always Right. Synchronised towards the back. West

:25:23. > :25:27.End Rocker has gone. Also down is Junior at the second fence.

:25:27. > :25:30.Shakalakaboomboom jumped through the tape the lead there. A bad

:25:30. > :25:34.mistake from Vic Venturi back in the field. Arbor Supreme is behind

:25:34. > :25:41.the main group of runners already. They come to number 4.

:25:41. > :25:45.Shakalakaboomboom. Swing Bill and Giles Cross. Killyglen. Wide on the

:25:45. > :25:47.track is Sunnyhillboy. We join Darren. On the run to the one

:25:47. > :25:53.before Becher's Brook. Shakalakaboomboom and Seabass,

:25:53. > :25:57.Swing Bill, According To Pete. Towardsed outside -- we lost one,

:25:57. > :26:01.State Of Play has gone. Chicago Grey gone as well. They go towards

:26:01. > :26:05.Becher's Brook. Another one down, Rare Bob might have gone. Now

:26:05. > :26:08.towards Becher's Brook. Shakalakaboomboom, Planet Of Sound,

:26:08. > :26:12.Deep Purple. According To Pete and Swing Bill. Sunnyhillboy towards

:26:12. > :26:18.the outside. They stream over Becher's Brook. And Synchronised is

:26:18. > :26:24.down. Synchronised is down at Becher's Brook. Shakalakaboomboom,

:26:24. > :26:30.Seabass. Always Right, Giles Cross blunders badly. Alfa Beat is a

:26:30. > :26:33.faller. The leaders are about to tackle Canal Turn.

:26:33. > :26:37.Shakalakaboomboom followed by Always Right, Killyglen, Planet Of

:26:37. > :26:41.Sound, According To Pete. Then Swing Bill. Followed by Giles Cross.

:26:41. > :26:46.Killyglen has gone. Killyglen has gone. Black Apalachi is down.

:26:46. > :26:52.Organisedconfusion is also gone. BecauseIcouldntsee is down as well.

:26:52. > :26:57.Now jumping Valentine's. Ballabriggs may have made a mistake.

:26:57. > :27:00.Arbor Supreme appears to be the last one going. Fence number ten.

:27:00. > :27:04.Shakalakaboomboom is just the leader in the National. A bad

:27:04. > :27:09.mistake from Deep Purple further back. Hello Bud, Planet Of Sound,

:27:09. > :27:13.Seabass. Always Right with the leaders. Then According To Pete.

:27:13. > :27:16.Behind this is Deep Purple and then Sunnyhillboy as they take number 11.

:27:16. > :27:21.Swing Bill behind those. Giles Cross has been pulled up towards

:27:21. > :27:24.the rear. Planet Of Sound now has gone on as they come to number 12.

:27:24. > :27:29.Shakalakaboomboom in second place, behind those in third position is

:27:29. > :27:36.Seabass. Then Always Right. They get over it. Ballabriggs is in mid

:27:36. > :27:41.division. They go once across the road and on towards the racecourse

:27:41. > :27:46.proper. We rejoin Jim. They cross over now on the first occasion.

:27:46. > :27:50.Heading towards fence number 13, Planet Of Sound, who has been

:27:50. > :27:54.jumping spectacularly is in the lead, from Shakalakaboomboom. Third

:27:54. > :27:58.Seabass, for Katie Walsh. Behind them is Always Right. Followed

:27:58. > :28:01.further back in the field then According To Pete, and Hello Bud.

:28:01. > :28:07.Deep Purple is behind them. Followed further back by Swing Bill,

:28:07. > :28:12.the grey. Further back Midnight Haze and followed next as they head

:28:12. > :28:15.towards the next is Ballabriggs. They head over the 13th fence and

:28:15. > :28:20.it's Planet Of Sound leads over it. Planet Of Sound is the leader. They

:28:20. > :28:24.head up towards the 14th, from Shakalakaboomboom, and up there too

:28:24. > :28:30.is Seabass. According To Pete is just behind them, followed by

:28:30. > :28:34.Always Right and Hello Bud. Deep Purple went through that. He is not

:28:34. > :28:37.jumping well. Calgary Bay is there as well, from Swing Bill. On the

:28:37. > :28:44.inside is Ballabriggs, followed by Midnight Haze. Sunnyhillboy is out

:28:44. > :28:49.wide. Followed then by Neptune Collonges. Further back pwhrau back

:28:49. > :28:53.-- Cappa Bleu. They go over The Chair. A faller at the Chair. All

:28:53. > :28:56.the others are other safely. Towards the water. The leader is

:28:56. > :29:00.Planet Of Sound, from Shakalakaboomboom. Seabass in third.

:29:00. > :29:05.Hello Bud is next. Followed by According To Pete and Sunnyhillboy.

:29:06. > :29:11.Calgary Bay. They're clear of them. Neptune Collonges and on the

:29:11. > :29:14.outside Quiscover Fontaine. On the inside is Midnight Haze. Followed -

:29:14. > :29:19.23 still standing. Followed by Ballabriggs. On the outside is On

:29:19. > :29:23.His Own. Followed by The Midnight Club, Cappa Bleu. Back in the field

:29:23. > :29:27.then is In Compliance, followed by Swing Bill and Deep Purple who is

:29:27. > :29:32.going backwards. Further back is Weird Al. Followed by Tharawaat,

:29:32. > :29:37.then Treacle out the back. Neptune out the back as well. So too Mon

:29:37. > :29:40.Mome who is lost. Vic Venturi about third last. We rejoin Ian.

:29:40. > :29:44.It's Richard Johnson on Planet Of Sound who leads them now by three

:29:44. > :29:48.or four lengths to Shakalakaboomboom. Further back in

:29:48. > :29:51.the field Quiscover Fontaine has gone there, as they come to number

:29:51. > :29:55.18. On His Own, According To Pete, Hello Bud and Seabass are close

:29:55. > :29:58.behind the leaders. Then comes Calgary Bay as they jump this.

:29:58. > :30:02.Neptune Collonges and Sunnyhillboy. Behind that is Cappa Bleu and

:30:02. > :30:06.Midnight Haze. They come to the ditch now. Planet Of Sound being

:30:06. > :30:11.joined by Shakalakaboomboom. Hello Bud is behind those in the white.

:30:11. > :30:16.Then Seabass. Behind these is On His Own. And refusing Vic Venturi,

:30:16. > :30:20.Vic Venturi has refused. It's Planet Of Sound, to

:30:20. > :30:22.Shakalakaboomboom and Hello Bud. Seabass. Behind those is Cappa Bleu

:30:22. > :30:27.and According To Pete and Neptune Collonges. They're being waved

:30:27. > :30:30.around the next obstacle. Weird Al is at the back of the field. So is

:30:30. > :30:40.the The Midnight Club, Neptune Equester, Treacle and also Mon Mome

:30:40. > :30:42.

:30:42. > :30:46.who is still going but is miles is still there. So too Sunnyhill

:30:46. > :30:49.Boy. Neptune Collonges, the grey to the inside. They jump beechers and

:30:49. > :30:55.On His Own is down. According To Pete has been brought down.

:30:55. > :31:01.Tharawaat made a bad mistake. Now heading towards the fence, Mon Mome

:31:01. > :31:03.pulled up before beechers and the leaders jumping the finance,

:31:03. > :31:07.Shakalakaboomboom out in front. Planet of Sound second place and

:31:07. > :31:12.Hello Bud, Seabass followed by Neptune Collonges, Sunnyhill Boy,

:31:12. > :31:15.Cappa Bleu's just behind these. Cappa Bleu is then followed by In

:31:15. > :31:19.Compliance, Ballabriggs and Weird Al. The leaders tackle the Canal

:31:19. > :31:23.Turn. Ballabriggs may have made a mistake. Looking to the back end of

:31:23. > :31:26.the field, Neptune Equester and Tharawaat are the last two going.

:31:26. > :31:30.Over at Valentine's. Planet of Sound the leader from

:31:30. > :31:34.Shakalakaboomboom. Hello Bud, Neptune Collonges, Seabass,

:31:34. > :31:38.Sunnyhill Boy, then several lengths to Ballabriggs. Ian Bartlett.

:31:38. > :31:43.Planet of Sound leading. To Shakalakaboomboom, the stripes in

:31:43. > :31:47.second. Spotted jacket Hello Bud in third. Seabass, maroon and white.

:31:47. > :31:50.Then Sunnyhill Boy towards the outside. In Compliance behind those.

:31:50. > :31:53.Neptune Collonges the grey is behind those. Ballabriggs with the

:31:53. > :31:57.nose band trying to make progress, late on in the race now as they

:31:57. > :32:00.race on towards the third from the finish, Swing Bill is still going.

:32:00. > :32:04.Shakalakaboomboom and Planet of Sound the leaders there. Neptune

:32:04. > :32:08.Collonges the grey, Seabass there. Sunnyhill Boy and Ballabriggs is

:32:08. > :32:11.beginning to close as well. The midnight club, Neptune Equester

:32:11. > :32:15.still going. They're well behind. They come to the Melling Road for

:32:15. > :32:19.the last time, the finish ever the Grand National. McGrath.

:32:19. > :32:23.They've got two fences left in the 2012 John Smith's Grand National.

:32:23. > :32:27.Shakalakaboomboom is the leader on the outside starting to move up is

:32:27. > :32:32.Planet of Sound. He's under pressure. Now Katie Walsh is coming

:32:32. > :32:34.on the outside with the big run on Seabass. Followed by Hello Bud and

:32:35. > :32:40.they've kick add way from Neptune Collonges, running on well is

:32:40. > :32:44.Sunnyhill Boy. They've got two left to jump. Katie Walsh on Seabass

:32:44. > :32:48.it's on the outside, the leader from Shakalakaboomboom. They're

:32:48. > :32:52.clear of Sunnyhill Boy and In Compliance is running on well at

:32:52. > :32:56.the second last. Shakalakaboomboom led over it, but joined again and

:32:56. > :33:00.passed by Seabass on the outside, Sunnyhill Boy. One left to jump in

:33:00. > :33:04.the Grand National. They're followed by Neptune Collonges and

:33:04. > :33:07.In Compliance. Seabass led over the last. Seabass is the leader,

:33:07. > :33:11.followed then by Sunnyhill Boy, Neptune Collonges. They're clear of

:33:11. > :33:17.Shakalakaboomboom. Further back In Compliance and Ballabriggs.

:33:17. > :33:20.Sunnyhill Boy has taken it up for Ritchie Mclernon. Seabass is not

:33:20. > :33:25.done with. Katie Walsh is coming back. And Neptune Collonges is

:33:25. > :33:29.joining in as well. It's Sunnyhill Boy with 100 yards left to go.

:33:29. > :33:33.Neptune Collonges digging deep on the near side. Sunnyhill Boy in

:33:33. > :33:38.front. He's shortening stride. He's half a length in front. Neptune

:33:38. > :33:45.Collonges is diving in, oh, it's tight! It's very tight between

:33:45. > :33:50.Sunnyhill Boy and Neptune Collonges. A photo in the Grand National. In

:33:50. > :33:54.third Seabass, fourth Cappa Bleu, followed then by further back

:33:54. > :33:58.Tharawaat. They're followed then by In Compliance. Let's have a look at

:33:58. > :34:04.the photo. Let's look at them as they cross

:34:04. > :34:10.the line. Sunnyhill Boy, the far side, near side Neptune Collonges.

:34:11. > :34:15.Oh, it's tight! It looks like the grey might have just got there by a

:34:15. > :34:21.nostril. Neptune Collonges and Sunnyhill Boy. Neptune Collonges

:34:21. > :34:27.Daryl Jacob may have snatched it in the last stride. Neptune Collonges

:34:27. > :34:33.may have snatched it. Paul Nicholls the trainer. Daryl Jacob the

:34:33. > :34:40.winning rider. It's desperately tight, a desperately tight photo.

:34:40. > :34:45.There's Ritchie Mclernon on Sunnyhill Boy. And Daryl Jacob, who

:34:45. > :34:53.on the evidence of that, what we've just seen, may have just snatched

:34:53. > :34:59.victory in the last stride. We're waiting for the official verdict.

:34:59. > :35:04.Ruby Walsh going over to Paul Nicholls there. There he is.

:35:04. > :35:11.They're waiting for the official result in the John Smith's Grand

:35:11. > :35:17.National. Here is the result: Number four Neptune Collonges.

:35:17. > :35:23.First is number four Neptune Collonges, ridden by Daryl Jacob.

:35:23. > :35:27.Second is number 26 Sunnyhill Boy, Ritchie Mclernon. Third number 13

:35:27. > :35:35.Seabass, Katie Walsh and fourth number 19 Cappa Bleu, Paul Moloney.

:35:35. > :35:39.That's the one, two, three, four in the 2012 Grand National. Daryl

:35:39. > :35:47.Jacob officially the winning rider, Neptune Collonges, the winner of

:35:47. > :35:53.the National. Congratulations, the moment that was announced what was

:35:53. > :35:59.that like? This is so good for my best friend deeran Kelly that died.

:35:59. > :36:02.I told him I could do him proud -- Kieran Kelly. Take us through the

:36:02. > :36:06.run. It looked for all the world you weren't going to get to the

:36:06. > :36:11.line. What a tough horse. I've always said to Paul someday I will

:36:11. > :36:15.ride you a National winner. I said to him two years ago. You've ridden

:36:15. > :36:21.him his first National winner and you got your first. Well done.

:36:21. > :36:25.Thank you very much. Until this day Paul Nicholls had had 52 winners in

:36:25. > :36:29.the Grand National. He had never won it. He has. It's on the bob of

:36:29. > :36:34.a head in the final stride, Neptune Collonges getting up on the line to

:36:34. > :36:38.take the John Smith's Grand National, probably the seal the

:36:38. > :36:43.trainers championship as well and beat Sunnyhill Boy in a photo

:36:43. > :36:47.finish, brilliant run from Seabass for Katie Walsh, the highest place

:36:47. > :36:52.female jockey ever to ride in the Grand National. Daryl Jacob puts

:36:52. > :36:55.his hands to the sky and says "thank you". Paul Nicholls had a

:36:55. > :37:01.nervous waits and that's his reaction as he heard the result of

:37:01. > :37:06.the photo finish. He's done it. Georgey, his wife there, and a

:37:06. > :37:12.quick reaction there grabbed by Five Live. Daryl Jacob who is an

:37:12. > :37:17.emotional man, tears in the enclosure. For John Hails, he and

:37:17. > :37:21.his wife Pat now celebrates victory in the most extraordinary

:37:22. > :37:29.circumstances. There are a lot of fallers out there.

:37:29. > :37:34.Neptune Collonges managed to avoid all the trouble. A terrific success

:37:35. > :37:40.this for the Paul Nicholls yard, a class horse this, 11 stone six on

:37:40. > :37:47.his back. He's run in Gold Cup. He's won the Punchestown Gold Cup

:37:47. > :37:52.twice. There Ritchie Mclernon watches the rerun and thinking

:37:52. > :37:56."Could I have done anything different?" Richard, you know what

:37:56. > :37:59.that feels like, don't you? afraid I do. None of them have done

:37:59. > :38:05.anything that they could have done differently, you know. Ritchie went

:38:05. > :38:10.for it, all the time the grey horse getting, get, getting. It was the

:38:10. > :38:17.line. That's the closest finish we've seen. It's agony for one and

:38:18. > :38:23.great jubilation for another. Daryl Jacob, just, what does that mean it

:38:23. > :38:31.a jockey. He's thanking God, isn't he? I feel so sorry for Ritchie

:38:31. > :38:37.Mclernon. He had it in the bag and it's snatched away from him. Ah, I

:38:37. > :38:40.feel gutted for him. You can't see it now, but Darryl's taken his

:38:41. > :38:44.teeth guard out, gum shield and he's got it tucked into the band on

:38:44. > :38:48.his hand. They're all very vain. He knows he'll get a good photograph

:38:48. > :38:52.and doesn't want the gum shield. Paul Nicholls after all that

:38:52. > :38:56.jubilation now, trying to take in this moment, the greatest of his

:38:56. > :39:02.training career, for all haecheefd with Kauto Star, Denman and Big

:39:02. > :39:06.Bucks. A race you can have no concrete expectations because so

:39:06. > :39:10.much can go wrong. Today it has gone right for this lovely grey

:39:10. > :39:14.horse, for Neptune Collonges, who at the age of 11, has won the Grand

:39:14. > :39:19.National. You know, the toughness of these

:39:19. > :39:23.horses coming eight of them, coming together across the anchor bridge

:39:23. > :39:27.Road and quite of a few of them in with a chance, then it spreads out.

:39:27. > :39:31.Very few stay the four-and-a-half miles. That is one thing I was

:39:31. > :39:36.impressed about this horse the last time he ran at Haydock. He really

:39:36. > :39:42.stayed on. He nearly snatched it that day from Giles Cross. Here's

:39:42. > :39:47.Jonjo's horse coming back in. What a brave race. Jonjo thought he had

:39:47. > :39:51.it. Must have done. Thought he was going to win his second Grand

:39:51. > :39:55.National. Synchronised out of the race early. He nearly did this

:39:55. > :40:00.there on Sunnyhill Boy. He's such a sporting guy. Do you think he

:40:00. > :40:06.thought he'd won it? I think his reaction there was gosh my horse

:40:06. > :40:10.has run a great race. Ritchie Mclernon's parents over from

:40:10. > :40:19.Ireland today. So many people are affected by this race, aren't they?

:40:19. > :40:23.Yes, it's incredible. What a great day for them. They've had great

:40:23. > :40:29.horses over the years. I was lucky enough to ride One Man for them.

:40:29. > :40:33.enough to ride One Man for them. Superb. Ladies and gentleman, we

:40:33. > :40:39.have witnessed the closest ever finish in the John Smith's Grand

:40:39. > :40:42.National and in the very last stride, under a brilliant ride from

:40:42. > :40:49.Daryl Jacob, Neptune Collonges is the horse who has come home in

:40:49. > :40:50.front for his owner John Hales and his trainer Paul Nicholls.

:40:51. > :40:58.Congratulations to the gallant grey, Neptune Collonges.

:40:58. > :41:05.APPLAUSE Frts Neptune Collonges the very

:41:05. > :41:15.brave winner of the 2012 John Smith's Grand National. The man

:41:15. > :41:15.

:41:15. > :41:23.hugging his jockey is John Hales, a man who - there's Ritchie Mclernon.

:41:23. > :41:33.That's the difference between victory and defeat. Daryl Jacob in

:41:33. > :41:34.

:41:34. > :41:39.the winner's enclosure, a very emotional win. And the owner, a

:41:39. > :41:43.horse who tragically lost his life here, One Man. There's Clare. She's

:41:43. > :41:47.hugging the winning trainer. I think she's doing a winning

:41:47. > :41:51.interview. This is a man who has been trying for so long to win this

:41:51. > :41:59.race w. Your 53rd runner you've done it. Yes and probably the best

:41:59. > :42:02.horse we've run in the race. Class form, Gold Cups, stays, genuine. A

:42:02. > :42:08.fantastic ride with Darryl, when you analyse where he went. A great

:42:08. > :42:11.horse and brilliant. I know my landlord will be watching at home,

:42:11. > :42:15.thanks for everything Paul, and the whole team, it's just fantastic.

:42:15. > :42:20.Given the race that's you've won and the gold cups that you've won,

:42:20. > :42:24.where on earth does this rank? blown Nicky Henderson out of the

:42:24. > :42:28.water now. I'd given up just now. You will be champion trainer that's

:42:28. > :42:32.for sure. Any good race, but this is the one we wanted as well,

:42:32. > :42:37.obviously. Brilliant. Dan skeleton saying now let's get ready for a

:42:37. > :42:41.picture. We'll let you do that. And Katie Walsh with the ride of your

:42:41. > :42:45.life on Seabass, terrific. You are the highest placed female jockey in

:42:45. > :42:48.the race. I got an unbelievable spin. I was round a couple -- wrong

:42:48. > :42:52.a couple of times, he put me right. Great to get round and can't

:42:52. > :42:56.believe it's over. I want to do it again. You looked for a long way as

:42:56. > :43:04.if you were going to win. I thought, over the last, it was going OK.

:43:04. > :43:09.Barry said to me, how are you going? And I put down my goggles,

:43:09. > :43:13.he got on to the last. Third was the best I was going to be. They

:43:13. > :43:17.need to check Katie's weight. The coolest thing she did was pulling

:43:17. > :43:21.down her goggles come together second last to get set to vai clear

:43:21. > :43:25.vision of that. For the owner of this horse, he has had moments of

:43:25. > :43:28.huge delight and moments of tragedy as well, One Man, the best horse

:43:28. > :43:32.that he owned. He never before has had a runner in the Grand National.

:43:32. > :43:37.He didn't want to do it. His very first runner, Neptune Collonges has

:43:37. > :43:41.come home the winner of this. You have to feel for Ritchie Mclernon

:43:41. > :43:44.on Sunnyhill Boy beaten in the tightest of finishing. Let's get

:43:44. > :43:47.the reaction of Daryl Jacob, we'll speak to you again now you've had

:43:47. > :43:50.time to take it in and all the people that have supported you

:43:50. > :43:54.through your career, who are you through your career, who are you

:43:54. > :43:59.thinking of most now? Definitely, Kieran Kelly. He's been a big help

:43:59. > :44:03.to me through my career. He told me to come over to England. This is a

:44:03. > :44:07.massive for him. Also delighted for Robert and Sally for bringing me

:44:07. > :44:11.along the way they have. Also, with Paul really looking after me this

:44:11. > :44:15.year. And that had to be an amazing thrill. Did you know you'd won?

:44:15. > :44:18.It's very, very tough. It was a very close finish. I kept my head

:44:19. > :44:22.down. He kept going for all he was worth. Fair play to the horse. He's

:44:22. > :44:28.dug very, very deep today. He knew the gallop he wanted to go. He

:44:28. > :44:31.jumped from fence to fence. That is the moment of, That you can

:44:31. > :44:36.celebrate your victory. Dan skeleton there whacking you on the

:44:36. > :44:41.back. It was a massive team effort. All credit to everyone. It's a real

:44:41. > :44:44.team effort. I'm very glad to be, lucky to be a part of it. I'm so

:44:44. > :44:49.pleased for you, a great moment. And also congratulations to the

:44:49. > :44:53.winning owner John Hale s. You've been involved with a lot of good

:44:53. > :44:57.horses, and this -- this has to be the greatest but almost the most

:44:57. > :45:03.heart stopping moment of all. you know, it's, when you cross the

:45:03. > :45:06.line, I thought he might have got it and my first thought was well,

:45:07. > :45:11.if he's got it, Paul's retaining the trainers championship, I

:45:11. > :45:17.thought thank you Aintree you owed me this one, you know why, from

:45:17. > :45:21.many years ago. It split the family coming here. My wife was 50/50, my

:45:21. > :45:24.daughter couldn't face it. Now she's overwhelmed with emotion down

:45:24. > :45:29.there because we'd had sad memories of coming to Aintree, nothing

:45:29. > :45:33.against Aintree, we love coming here. Thank God, today, we've come

:45:33. > :45:43.up trumps. Really thrilled for you, well done. Thank you very much

:45:43. > :45:44.

:45:44. > :45:54.indeed. Thank you. ( What a dramatic Grand National seeing

:45:54. > :46:02.

:46:02. > :46:08.dramatic Grand National seeing Just seen Ted Walsh behind me and

:46:08. > :46:11.he said to Katie "What did you think? How did it feel?" The thrill

:46:12. > :46:15.of finishing third in the National, a fabulous moment. What a great

:46:15. > :46:25.ride she gave Seabass. Let's now review the 2012 Grand National of

:46:25. > :46:32.

:46:32. > :46:38.what happened in a very, very few attempts at this. Yeah I think

:46:38. > :46:42.the jockeys were getting carried away here. You could see, in the

:46:42. > :46:48.end he let them go to a very good line. All the jockeys who wanted to

:46:48. > :46:52.be in the front line were. Weird Al, In Compliance and Junior were the

:46:52. > :46:56.three slowest away. The yellow jacket of Giles Cross in the centre

:46:56. > :46:59.just about the leader. The grey Swing Bill was next to him and

:46:59. > :47:03.between him the white Jacquelin Becauseicouldntsee. They see that

:47:03. > :47:07.first fence and they quicken onto it. In the middle of the pack in

:47:07. > :47:11.the red Viking Blond puts the brakes on and gets caught out.

:47:11. > :47:17.There's a slight drop at the back of the fence. He's right in the

:47:17. > :47:21.middle. He hits it and unfortunately he's got two to take

:47:21. > :47:29.you over and carries you down. Mistake as well one of the greys

:47:29. > :47:34.Alfa Beat, furthest from us there. Seabass did well, Katie Walsh.

:47:34. > :47:39.is fence number two, Junior in the light blue goes and just ahead of

:47:39. > :47:44.him the red jacket was West End Rocker. You can see Junior midway

:47:44. > :47:47.back in the blue, just going now, just got too close to that fence.

:47:47. > :47:50.You know that's the one thing with these fences. You can't get too

:47:51. > :47:54.close with them. Swing Bill and Shakalakaboomboom jumped that very

:47:54. > :47:59.well. Vic Venturi was the horse in black and yellow colours who makes

:47:59. > :48:04.a bad error. He has a good look at the ditch. He hangs a bit in the

:48:04. > :48:09.air. Weird Al and Arbor Supreme the last couple there. Here is number

:48:09. > :48:16.four, they all get over this. Shakalakaboomboom going in. There

:48:16. > :48:20.was an error by Synchronised there. Yes, there was. Great shots here.

:48:20. > :48:23.The camera on the inside. There is Weird Al at the back of the field.

:48:24. > :48:29.This is number five. Chicago Grey, Rare Bob and State Of Play come

:48:30. > :48:33.down here. State Of Play unseats the rider. Brought down Chicago

:48:34. > :48:38.Grey, seeing him going and Rare Bob brought down there.

:48:38. > :48:44.You can see here just watch this horse as he goes. He just shoots

:48:44. > :48:49.out of the top and unfortunately Rare Bob gets brought down by the

:48:49. > :48:52.stricken rider. Chicago Grey gets brought down by him. This is,

:48:52. > :48:57.looking here for Synchronised, there he is. Tony McCoy coming down

:48:57. > :49:01.to Becher's Brook. He only got as far as fence number six. He goes in

:49:01. > :49:09.here, he meets it OK and he just gets caught out by the drop. That's

:49:09. > :49:13.all it was. The big white face, here he comes now.

:49:13. > :49:17.He just almost jumps at a slight angle. They are trying to because

:49:17. > :49:21.the track begins to turn there. Yeah, that's what catches them out

:49:21. > :49:26.more than anything, beechers. You can hear it, that's the boys

:49:26. > :49:30.screaming as they go across. This is Shakalakaboomboom. There's Katie

:49:30. > :49:36.Walsh, what a great ride she's had. She'll love watching this. Sam

:49:36. > :49:41.Twiston-Davies on Hello Bud flashing through. Giles Cross.

:49:41. > :49:49.Tharawaat, a good spin. Hands off the reins from James Reveley.

:49:49. > :49:54.the blue cap was Ballabriggs going through. Now Alfa Beat the grey

:49:54. > :49:58.there he goes. He fell over these fences. Davy Russell there. Middle

:49:58. > :50:08.of your screen there, grey horse, down he goes, fires Davey into the

:50:08. > :50:17.

:50:17. > :50:20.up. Seabass on the left of the screen. So, the next one we come to

:50:20. > :50:26.is Canal Turn number 8. Black Apalachi, Organisedconfusion,

:50:26. > :50:30.Killyglen and BecauseIcouldntsee all going down. All a big melee in

:50:30. > :50:33.the middle. The winner lucky to get around them. Very lucky. On the

:50:33. > :50:40.inside in the orange, there you can see on the left of the picture,

:50:40. > :50:44.coming out the side door now Robbie Power. Denis O Regan on Black

:50:44. > :50:49.Apalachi, he fell. Watch now for the pile-up. Just at the back. You

:50:49. > :50:56.can see Nina Carberry gets fired out. Andrew Thornton, the same fate

:50:56. > :50:59.for him. Treacle badly hampered, so too Neptune Equester. This is

:50:59. > :51:03.number 9. Shakalakaboomboom has gone through to a lead of a length

:51:03. > :51:06.or so. The winner, about five from the right, way back in the field at

:51:06. > :51:10.the moment. He was ridden differently this afternoon. Daryl

:51:10. > :51:14.allowed him to find his stride. Great shots here. You can see him

:51:14. > :51:19.flying over that fence, Neptune Collonges. He was enjoying himself.

:51:19. > :51:25.This is the last look at Neptune. That was Ballabriggs, took it at an

:51:25. > :51:30.angle. He did, on his own going through there. On to number 10.

:51:30. > :51:35.Treacle, in black with yellow, right at the back of the field.

:51:35. > :51:39.Arbor Supreme, in a red cap. He is also right at the rear of the field.

:51:39. > :51:44.He unseats his rider. Way in the background. Look for him here, four

:51:44. > :51:48.from the left. Right at the back now. Yellow cap. He gets too close.

:51:48. > :51:53.Here is the price, Andrew Lynch fired into the turf. Right at the

:51:53. > :52:00.back that horse was ducking out. Arbor Supreme, attempting to refuse.

:52:00. > :52:06.Planet Of Sound has come through to join Shakalakaboomboom. Postmaster,

:52:06. > :52:15.tiny error behind him. On the left Paddy Brennan says enough is enough,

:52:15. > :52:19.this horse is not enjoying himself. This is number 12. A little bit

:52:19. > :52:23.slow jump there from Seabass in fourth place. Also Tharawaat well

:52:23. > :52:26.back in the field. Shakalakaboomboom, look how far he

:52:26. > :52:30.stood off that. He was very good there. Deep Purple having a tough

:52:30. > :52:34.time. Going through the picture top of the screen in the green, that's

:52:34. > :52:41.In Compliance. He finished fifth. lot of these horses have come from

:52:41. > :52:44.back in the field this year. This is number 13. Richard Johnson now

:52:44. > :52:47.he is in a good lead for himself. He is, he is enjoying himself on

:52:47. > :52:53.this horse and he has a little bit of class, he thought I will pull

:52:53. > :52:57.the race up here and suit myself. Seabass, and Katie Walsh, what a

:52:57. > :53:01.ride she had. Shakalakaboomboom was next to her, they were second and

:53:01. > :53:08.third at this stage. On the left is Sunnyhillboy. The green and white

:53:08. > :53:12.on his cap. Vic Venturi right at the back. Now this is another one

:53:12. > :53:20.of the small fences, number 14. Still a couple of lengths lead

:53:20. > :53:25.there for Richard Johnson on Planet Of Sound. Vic Venturi is also well

:53:26. > :53:29.back. Five from the right now jumping in the yellow, that's the

:53:29. > :53:36.winner Neptune Collonges. Daryl Jacob sensible ride on this one.

:53:36. > :53:40.This is The Chair. Planet Of Sound is bold there. Yeah, we can see

:53:40. > :53:45.Always Right getting rid of James Reveley. He didn't have a chance of

:53:45. > :53:51.staying on board. Bottom of the screen, red colours. No chance of

:53:51. > :53:56.staying on board that. It's like being fired out of the car with no

:53:56. > :54:01.seatbelt on. Three from the right, with the white hoops on the sleeves.

:54:01. > :54:07.Just gets close. The horse's head goes down and jockey goes flying

:54:07. > :54:11.out the front. Nobody briefed him the fence was that big! Planet Of

:54:11. > :54:15.Sound still over the water jump. This is roughly halfway.

:54:15. > :54:19.Shakalakaboomboom is in second place. Hello Bud still there behind

:54:19. > :54:29.Seabass, According To Pete. winner going through now, Neptune

:54:29. > :54:37.

:54:37. > :54:41.Collonges. Sunnyhillboy, green cap towards - Seabass is third and

:54:41. > :54:47.Cappa Bleu red cap there. Out in front at the moment is Planet Of

:54:47. > :54:51.Sound, still got a good lead on the second set. He is enjoying. Barry

:54:51. > :54:56.Geraghty had a lovely ride. Quiscover Fontaine disappearing

:54:56. > :55:03.there out of the shot. Sunnyhillboy just jumping there. Watch for the

:55:03. > :55:11.thud now. Neptune Equester, the final one getting over it. Down he

:55:11. > :55:14.goes. David Casey. Getting fired out of the plate. Watch for him

:55:14. > :55:18.here in the blue cap. He gets too close and pays the price. If you

:55:18. > :55:22.don't respect these fences that's what happens. This is number 18.

:55:22. > :55:32.Planet Of Sound the leader, but he's already starting to feel the

:55:32. > :55:42.heat from Shakalakaboomboom, Hello Bud and Seabass. In the background

:55:42. > :55:48.