While the Cheltenham Festival hasn’t exactly been a happy hunting ground for British riders over the last couple of years, due to the sheer dominance of the Irish at Prestbury Park, the proceeding Grand National meeting at Aintree is often more favourable to the home nation riders — even if only two British jockeys (Richard Guest in 2000 and Ryan Mania in 2013) have won the National itself since the turn of the millennium.
With the top Irish trainers tending to save their best horses for the Punchestown Festival, often dubbed Ireland’s own version of Cheltenham, later in the month, it is in the other races that the British have the chance to sweep up at Aintree and the likes of Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Dan Skelton rise to the fore.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at three British riders to watch at the Grand National. Read on to find out more.
Harry Cobden
Being Nicholls’ No.1 rider, Harry Cobden will be in the saddle of several horses that will feature in the racing tips ahead of the meeting getting underway on Thursday.
The exciting 22-year-old landed two winners at the last festival — both coming on the opening day, as he landed the Juvenile Hurdle with Monmiral and prestigious Bowl Chase with Clan Des Obeaux.
He’ll have plenty of changes to better that tally this year though, with Pic D’Orhy fancied for the Manifesto Novices’ Chase and Clan Des Obeaux tipped to retain his Bowl crown both on the opening day.
Monmiral will also be out for back-to-back wins in Merseyside, this time aiming for the Aintree Hurdle (16/1), while Stage Star is a 10/1 shot in Saturday’s Mersey Novices’ Hurdle. Lostintranslation is a huge 100/1 chance in the Grand National.
Harry Skelton
While Harry Skelton looks set to lose his Jump Jockeys’ Championship title to veteran Brian Hughes, he’ll still be hoping to have a fantastic Grand National Festival — perhaps even helping his brother, Dan, close the gap to Nicholls and Henderson in the race for the British trainers’ championship.
Skelton also rode two winners last year — Protektorat in the Manifesto and My Drogo in the Mersey. But the 32-year-old enjoyed a fantastic three days overall at Aintree with a further five placings, including Roksana being beaten by a neck in the Liverpool Hurdle and Elle Est Belle coming second in the Grade 2 Flat Race.
Skelton has plenty of short-priced rides booked for this year, including Protektorat (7/2) in the Bowl, Kateira (11/2) in the Flat Race, Third Time Lucki (7/2) in the Maghull Novices’ Chase and Shan Blue in the Aintree Handicap Chase. Veteran Blaklion, a 100/1 outsider, will be his ride in the Grand National.
Nico de Boinville
Nico de Boinville, Henderson’s Seven Burrows’ No.1 rider, may be some way down in the Jump Jockeys’ Championship, currently ninth with just 72 victories at the time of writing. But it’s worth noting that he’s mounted just 329 rides this term and boasts the same strike rate as Hughes (22%).
The 2019 Cheltenham Festival Top Jockey also landed two winning rides at Aintree last year, scooping his first win of the meeting after guiding Chantry House to glory in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase before landing another victory with Shishkin in the Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase on Grand National Day.
De Boinville won’t have a lot of opportunities to add to his tally in Merseyside later this week though, with just four booked rides at the time of writing! His best chance of victory looks set to come from Walking On Air (3/1) in the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle, with First Street 7/2 in the Top Novices’ Hurdle and Mister Coffey a 10/1 chance in the Topham Handicap Chase. He’ll also be aboard Caribean Boy (66/1) in the National.
