Gemini Grand National Horses

The Gordon Elliott trained gelding is a winning machine having won thirteen times already with two sequences of five wins in a row.   The highlight of his wins so far was undoubtedly defeating Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard two seasons ago in the Grade One Savills Chase at Leopardstown. Since that memorable victory, Galvin's form has dipped and he has recorded just one win in his last ten races. The slump in form has prompted Gordon Elliott to pursue a Cross Country route with the ten-year-old gelding and Galvin took to the discipline immediately when finishing runner-up to Delta Work in his first race over the Cross Country obstacles at last season's Cheltenham Festival. This season has seen three defeats for Galvin, including two in handicaps on the Cheltenham Cross Country course but he ran really well when finishing fourth in the Grade Two Boyne Hurdle at Navan in February. The ground that day was heavy which would definitely not have been to Galvin's liking but he put in a promising performance and was only five lengths. Undoubtedly at his best on a sounder surface, Galvin is eleven pounds lower than when attempting the Grand National for the first time last season where he unseated Davy Russell at the first fence. At the unveiling of the Grand National weights this year, trainer Gordon Elliott was sweet on Galvin's chance at Aintree and the handicapper has undoubtedly taken a risk with the mark he has given the gelding for this year's Grand National. The main drawbacks to Galvin's hopes would be his preference for good ground and his jumping which can be chancy. However, given he could now be extremely well handicapped, those concerns could be risks worth taking.

Janidil is best known for his efforts over two and a half miles, including finishing runner-up to Allaho in a Ryanair and a John Durkan, as well as winning at Grade One level at that distance as a novice. The JP McManus owned gelding has had five attempts at distances of three miles but has only recorded one placed effort when third behind Conflated in the Irish Gold Cup two years ago. His most recent race at three miles was finishing a distant eleventh of twelve runners in this season’s Stayers Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Imagining Janidil staying the four miles, two furlongs distance of the Grand National is difficult to do based on his career so far and with three falls from his sixteen races over fences, he looks highly unlikely to be involved in the finish.