With the absence of two-time champion Tiger Roll from this year’s Grand National, there’s a buzz in the horse racing community around which horse will be the one to take the crown. Victories for the Gordon Elliott-trained horse in 2018 and 2019, along with the fact the race was cancelled last year, means that we haven’t seen any other winner of the Grand National since One For Arthur triumphed four years ago.
That makes this year’s race all the more exciting, and it seems as though one horse is particularly fancied to go all the way at Aintree and claim victory over the race’s gruelling four miles. Yes, Cloth Cap is currently the short-priced favourite in the Grand National odds, and the pressure is mounting on trainer Jonjo O’Neill and likely jockey Tom Scudamore as the race draws ever nearer.
Cloth Cap can be found at odds of around 4/1, which is very short for the Grand National given how notoriously difficult the race is to predict. The second favourite at the time of writing is Any Second Now, but his odds are listed at a much higher 10/1, proof of how heavily Cloth Cap is being backed as we build up to this year’s Grand National.
So, what are the reasons for Cloth Cap’s short odds, and is he the sure-fire winner we’re led to believe he is? Well, with two successive wins to his name, it’s easy to see why the nine-year-old is being backed for glory at Aintree. The first of these was a three-mile-plus race at Newbury, which Cloth Cap won by an impressive 10 lengths over second-place Aye Right. This was followed up with victory in the Premier Chase at Kelso in early March. Those two triumphs, and particularly the impressive nature of both, are part of the reason why the gelding is so heavily backed for the Grand National.
Then there is the fact that in O’Neill, Cloth Cap is trained by a man who has been there and done it in terms of training a Grand National winner. 11 years ago, Don’t Push It gave legendary jockey AP McCoy a memorable first Grand National triumph, and O’Neill was the trainer who helped mastermind the victory. With that kind of experience comes expectation, and it’s clear that many fancy O’Neill to have Cloth Cap in supreme shape come starter’s orders on April 10th.
Another factor is owner Trevor Hemmings, who has won the Grand National three times in the last 16 years – only Gigginstown House Stud, who have won three of the last four races, have as many victories over that time period. It’s clear that Hemmings knows what makes a good Grand National contender, and the punters obviously believe that the British billionaire is on to another winner.
Jockey Scudamore is confident of the Cloth Cap’s chances, and he has every reason to be, given that he was the man in the saddle for those two aforementioned victories at Newbury and Kelso. The 38-year-old is looking to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Michael Scudamore, who won the Grand National aboard Oxo in 1959.
“It’s a lovely privileged position to be on the favourite for the Grand National,” Scudamore said. “He’s been a tremendous ride who’s going from strength to strength and is a worthy favourite. It’s up to the bookmakers to decide what is a fair price and what isn’t but I’m hoping that come that Saturday evening, he’ll be looking like he was a massive price.”
It’s fair to say that if this were any other race, it’d be hard to see any other winner. But then, this is the Grand National, and while Cloth Cap is the heavy favourite, we’ve seen plenty of short-priced favourites falter in the past when push comes to shove at Aintree. With the chance of a lifetime beckoning them towards glory, it will be interesting to see whether O’Neill, Scudamore and the horse himself can stand up to the pressure.
