THE BERNIE THE BOOK COLUMN CAN WILLIE’S DOMINANCE EXTEND TO AINTREE?
Seldom (if ever) has there been such dominance in the National Hunt game as that currently being enjoyed by Willie Mullins. Now over 100 Festival winners with another nine wins, including five Grade 1’s at Cheltenham which followed the total dominance he experienced at the Dublin Racing Festival, surely a major plundering of the Grand National meeting is only a matter of time.
GRAND NATIONAL At the recent declaration stage, 29 of the 34 horses left in are trained in Ireland. The one failing grace is that the likely favourite and last year’s winner is from these shores, but it would be folly to ignore an Irish winner? And folly it would be and my headline tip is the J P McManus owned and Willie Mullins’ trained MEETINGOFTHEWATERS, currently available around the 14/1 mark. Some things need to
be
made clear. The race is not the lottery it once
unbackable in my mind, it’s bad enough losing money, what I can’t abide is his uncaring (portrayed) attitude. The man in form is clearly JUDD TRUMP and at 9/2 he will do for me. A note
of
caution: Neil Robertson has now fallen out of the top 16 and will have to pre-qualify and as such, should he qualify, will be drawn in a straight draw against one of the top 16. Dangerous lurker beware, he is playing well and could conceivably meet Ronnie in round 1.
was.
Safety issues have rendered
it a lot less challenging than 20 years ago; the drops are less severe, the heights are less challenging and more high quality horses both compete and complete the marathon distance. Added to the number of runners being reduced to 34 from 40, and the cavalry charge to the first being artificially adjusted, it is now a race for those at the top of the weights, not those at the bottom…No FOINAVON HERE!!! So, numbers 1-12 will be favoured (as it’s a handicap, riding numbers are allocated due to weight )and preference is to Mullins’ horse after its very encour- aging run in the Ultima at Cheltenham. The other form line is the Irish one and another horse from Closutton should be noted, namely I AM MAXIMUS at 10/1.
WORLD SNOOKER
Its also the month when the World Snooker Championship begins in Sheffield, and regular readers will know that the main fancy I have this year is not Rocket Ronnie despite him being the best player on the planet. His internal demons always make him
PHTM APRIL 2024
THE MASTERS Anyone got hay fever? Well beware, the azaleas are in bloom in Augusta for the select Masters field. Scottie Scheffler looks on a different planet right now but 9/2 is not a working man’s price in this field. Rory has more demons than Ronnie, and Rahms recent defection to LIV needs more acclimatisation. So to who? My main fancies, (you can get 8 or even 10 places if you shop around are XANDER SCHAUFFELE at 25/1 and WYNDHAM CLARK at 33/1. That should tee us up nicely (geddit?) for…
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE It’s the quarter final stage in the next week and I expect the semi-final draw to be between BAYERN MUNICH and REAL MADRID and PSG and ATLETICO. And yes, I am a Man City fan, but as I
watch them all the time I can see their failings. To my mind they are blunt, toothless and ripe for picking by my main fancy for the tournament…REAL MADRID at 13/2.
I hope I’m proved wrong but money is money. In the UEFA Europa league, LIVERPOOL look unbeatable in Jurgen’s last hurrah and 2/1 represents excellent value.
Good punting…
Bernie the Book 79
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