AINTREE FESTIVAL 2017
Day 3 – Grand National Day
Saturday 08 April
|
Picture of the Day
Yanworth, winner of
the Grade 1 Liverpool Stayers’ Hurdle I was up at 06:00, after which I showered and washed
my hair before going to breakfast with Sandra at 07:15. It was a full English breakfast once again,
with three rashers of bacon, 2 fried eggs, a pork sausage, mushrooms and two
half fried tomatoes. Plus three
yoghurts – peach & apricot, strawberry and plain. Plus, I think, one croissant. We decided to leave for Aintree at 09:20 today,
arriving at around 09:50. There was a longer queue to enter the
Steeplechase car park than on the previous two days and my car’s cooling fan
even came on too, a couple of times, whilst we were awaiting our turn for the
vehicle to be searched by security.
I’d noticed the fan noise when I was queuing in Prestbury
during the Cheltenham Festival too. In
fact I’m becoming so paranoid, that I even think the noise from helicopters
flying overhead is related to a problem with my car! Anyway, I finally reached the front of the queue
and was 100% confident that the bonnet would close today following the
security search, because the rubber stoppers set into the metal frame had
been removed on Thursday morning and had not yet been replaced. But just how wrong could I be? I tried a number of times to close it but
without success. As I now remain calm
in the face of this regular bonnet issue, I decided to leave it down but
unlatched, and we drove along the driveway to park near the rear
thereof. A number of additional attempts followed to close
it, both by me and Sandra, but it still refused to lock down. We gave up; fortunately I’d placed a packet
of Carex cleaning wipes in one of the outside
pockets of my Kipling bag, so we used these to clean the dirt and oil off our
hands before putting on our coats. The design of the 2008 model Fiesta’s bonnet
locking mechanism is such that it’s not particularly obvious when it’s open;
the only tell-tale sign is the ‘tongue’
which sticks out around two inches.
But, as they say, a blind man would be glad to see it! Anyway, I had a plan B – if the bonnet
still wouldn’t lock down when I returned to my car, I’d exit the racecourse
at the expected snail’s pace after racing and park up in one of the local
roads before calling the RAC. However,
I also had a strong suspicion that the bonnet would close once the engine and
housing had experienced the opportunity to cool down during the day! We entered the grounds at 10:40, purchased our
race-cards and bottles of water before heading immediately to our favourite
spot beside the exit/entry horse walkway.
One or the other of us remained in this location throughout the entire
day, until after the Grand National winner had paraded on course at the end
of the day in fact; we weren’t giving up our position to anyone! Toni, from my employer’s Liverpool branch, was making
her first visit to the Grand National today but I couldn’t even meet up with
her because I was rooted to the spot!
I did, however, pass on my Grand National tip to her a couple of days
previously – One For Arthur! Anyway, the off time of the first race was
13:45. The favourite of this race was No Hassle Hoff,
trained by Dan Skelton and ridden by brother Harry; price 4-1. I placed my one and only bet of the Aintree
Festival ahead of this race – an each-way punt on The Tourard
Man. Indecisive, I’d missed out at
Cheltenham when he finished 4th in the Pertemps
Final, priced at 66-1. However, today,
he’d finished only 8th, so that was £10 down the drain. L The winner was Fountains Windfall, trained by
Anthony Honeyball and ridden by David Noonan. The horse made most of the running and was
clear of the field before 4 out; he won by 8 lengths.
The favourite for the next race was the Colin Tizzard-trained, Robbie Power-ridden, Finian’s
Oscar; price 3-1. He duly obliged,
with the Alan King runner, Messire Des Obeaux completing in 3rd. A few days later it was announced that Messire Des Obeaux had
sustained a tendon injury and would be out of action the following season.
Having run so well at the Cheltenham Festival,
against Altior until falling two out, the favourite
for the third race was Charbel trained by Kim
Bailey and ridden by David Bass; price 6-5. However, he proved disappointing having made an
error and dropped back. This left Politologue to seemingly claim the prize, only for the
horse to clear the last and then stumble and fall independently. This departure left Forest Bihan in the lead but he was challenged by San Benedeto close home with the Paul Nicholls second-string
triumphing by a head at the line.
The favourite for the next race was Potters
Legend, trained by Lucy Wadham and ridden by
Leighton Aspell; price 9-2. But it was yet another winner for the Colin Tizzard yard, with the Potts’ Sizing Codelco
romping to victory by 13 lengths.
The favourite for the fifth race of the day was Yanworth, trained by Alan King and ridden by Barry Geraghty; price 9-4.
Connections had tried to mould Yanworth into a 2-mile Champion Hurdler but without
success in that particular event; although did have a successful season apart
from the big race. Finally, today, the
horse had found his correct trip and won by a length from Supasundae.
We’d seen off all-comers, to retain our position
beside the exit walkway ahead of the feature race – it’s not always easy, as
strangers purposefully chat in order to catch you off-guard in an attempt to
push in! The favourite for the Grand National was the
Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Blaklion,
ridden by Noel Fehily; price 8-1. Sandra placed a bet on him and on The Young
Master I believe. I stupidly didn’t
follow my hunch, failing to place a bet on One For Arthur; price 14-1. Anyway, as we all know, the Lucinda
Russell-trained One For Arthur, ridden by Derek Fox, won impressively having
been held up near the rear until making progress after Becher’s
Brook the second time around. The
amazingly versatile Cause Of Causes chased him home; the Irish horse has won
three different races in three different seasons at the Cheltenham Festival,
including this year’s Cross Country. Nineteen horses completed, with only three
actually falling – Vicente and Cocktails At Dawn at the first fence and The
Young Master at the sixth fence, Becher’s
Brook.
The favourite for the final race of the Festival
was So Celebre, trained by Ian Williams and ridden by David Noonan; price
6-1. It was won by Chesterfield, trained by Seamus
Mullins and ridden by Daniel Sansom. Wakea took a horrible fall
two out and the green screens were erected; however, he eventually got up and
was led away unharmed.
Thus, with 21 races completed, no horses had been
lost at this year’s Festival. J It transpired that Toni had gone home by the time
I was available to meet up with her.
Oops! However, she’d placed a
bet on the Grand National and had won nearly £200! It’s just a shame that I didn’t follow
through by placing a bet on my tip too. L We waited until One For Arthur had been paraded
on course before beginning our journey back to Golborne. It was 19:30 by the time we were walking
along the driveway within the Steeplechase car park to reach my car, which
was parked near the back thereof. I put off for as long as possible the moment when
I would discover if the car bonnet would close … and, guess what? It closed at the first time of asking. I know exactly what the problem is, despite the fact that everyone who services my car
doesn’t believe any such thing is possible.
Heat expansion. It’s heat
expansion. It has to be. The sole time during the past five years
that I’ve not experienced a problem with the bonnet at Aintree, is last year
when the weather was cold and wet.
Although I had no issues in 2009 to 2012 when the car was fairly new. Whilst we sat in the car and waited for the
traffic to clear a little, we looked up the details of the Table Table restaurant in order for me to phone them to rebook
our table for 21:00; the original booking was for 20:00. With the prospect of a long wait ahead of us, to
exit the car park via the usual route over Anchor Bridge, after a handful of
minutes I decided to follow the example of the locals! This meant heading in the opposite
direction, and out onto the Melling Road. I missed the opportunity to head down Seeds
Lane; I followed the diversion signs instead.
This meant driving down Greenwich Road, which ran along the western
edge of the local cemetery. At the far
end, cones ensured all traffic turned left.
However, I was now on the A506, so headed along to the M57 and
followed our usual route back to the hotel in Golborne. We arrived back pretty frazzled, or at least I
was. My face was quite red, and my
pendant had created a strange tan upon my décolletage. As it happened, we had plenty of time in
hand before our evening meal, so much so that we headed to the restaurant at
20:45. Tonight I ordered a gammon, chicken and pea pie,
plus a salted toffee apple crumble for dessert; also an apple and mango J2O. It made so much more sense to stay for the
additional night, as I was totally chilled out by the following morning and
ahead of my journey back to Hertfordshire.
Although I’d be eating lunch at home, I decided to have a final full
English breakfast on Sunday morning.
It was the same again, but with an omelette instead of fried eggs, but
no croissants. As Sandra didn’t partake in breakfast on Sunday,
I dropped by her hotel room to bid farewell before setting off on my homeward
journey at 08:20. It was to be the
hottest day of the year so far and the drive went smoothly. There were road-works currently between
junctions 19 and 16 on the M6 and southwards for quite a distance on the M1
from its junction with the former.
Strangely, the only time my neck issues caused me grief was when I was
pottering along at 50 mph within both sets of road-works! I made very good time and, following a trip to
the local petrol station and the adjacent supermarket to buy a copy of the
Racing Post, I arrived home at 11:45. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
