As we gear up for the 175th renewal of the great race, which will be held at Aintree Racecourse on Saturday, April 15th 2023, it all starts with the entries. For 2023 that number is 85 and unsurprisingly, Noble Yeats is included on that list.
Trained by Emmet Mullins, Noble Yeats looks set to return to retain his crown. Now eight-years-old, and on excellent form, can he run away with it again in 2023? Or will his trip to the Cheltenham Gold Cup scupper his chances?
Of the 85 entries, 54 are trained in Ireland, one more than last year despite the overall entries being down by 22.
Any Second Now is also back for his third shot at the title. Finishing 3rd in 2021 and 2nd in 2022, he is edging ever closer, but can he finally get the win for trainer Ted Walsh?
Also returning is Delta Work from Gordon Elliott. He finished third in last year’s race and could also head to Cheltenham in the Glenfarclas Chase before a trip to Aintree on April 15th.
Last year’s 5th place finisher, Fiddlerontheroof has been given another entry.
Gordon Elliott Entries
One of Ireland’s most successful trainers, Gordon Elliott consistently enters a huge number of potential runners into the Grand National. Last season it was 19 runners; this year it is a staggering 21. That is a whopping 24.7% of all entries.
Not only does he have Galvin in the mix, but he also has serious contenders in Conflated and Fury Road, both of whom have significant wins under their belt.
Henry De Bromhead 2023 Grand National Entries
Winner of the Grand National in 2021 with Minella Times, it was the race that finally gave us all our first female grand national winning jockey in Rachael Blackmore.
For 2023, Minella Times is back again alongside five other stablemates for trainer Henry De Bromhead. His other potentials include Ain’t That A Shame, Chris’s Dream, Envoi Allen, Gabby Cross and Gin On Lime.
With Blackmore now consistently riding Envoi Allen, it will be interesting to see which horse she chooses for the big race.
Other Notable Entries
Mister Coffey from Nicky Henderson is his only entry this year. Having never won the race, Henderson will be hoping for a miracle form his chaser.
At eight years old, Mister Coffey has only started one race beyond 2m7½f and that was at Cheltenham last season when he finished second in the Kim Muir.
Conflated from Gordon Elliott, Hewick from JJ Hanlon and Noble Yeats from Emmet Mullins are among the highest rated from Ireland.
Of course the BHA Handicapper doesn’t have to follow the Irish ratings and has the freedom to rate these horses independently when it comes to the allocation of weights.
2022 Welsh Grand National winner The Two Amigos didn’t get an entry but the second place finisher, The Big Breakaway from Joe Tizzard, did get the green light for Aintree.
Prominent Owners
Three of the biggest owners in National Hunt Racing, in terms of numbers are JP McManus, Gigginstown and the late Trevor Hemmings.
This year JP McManus has entered eight runners as an owner, so it looks like another strong hand for the gold and green hoops.
Gigginstown has 10 entries, with 9 of them trained by Gordon Elliott. The other is Diol Ker with Noel Meade.
The estate of the late Trevor Hemmings has one potential runner with Cloudy Glen (Venetia Williams). With three Grand National wins, the estate will be hoping that there’s one last win for the late Trevor Hemmings before his operations are fully wound up.
All 2023 Grand National Entries
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- Ain’t That A Shame (IRE) 9 Henry De Bromhead
- Any Second Now (IRE) 11 Ted Walsh
- Ashtown Lad 9 Dan Skelton
- Ash Tree Meadow (IRE) 7 Gordon Elliott
- A Wave Of The Sea (IRE) 7 Joseph Patrick O’Brien
- Back On The Lash 9 Martin Keighley
- Battleoverdoyen (IRE) 10 Gordon Elliott
- Born By The Sea (IRE) 9 Paul John Gilligan
- Burrows Saint (IRE) 10 WP Mullins
- Cape Gentleman (IRE) 7 John Joseph Hanlon
- Capodanno (IRE) 7 WP Mullins
- Captain Cattistock 10 Fergal O’Brien
- Captain Kangaroo (IRE) 8 WP Mullins
- Carefully Selected (IRE) 11 WP Mullins
- Chemical Energy (IRE) 7 Gordon Elliott
- Chris’s Dream (IRE) 11 Henry De Bromhead
- Cilaos Emery 11 Sophie Leech
- Cloudy Glen 10 Venetia Williams
- Coko Beach (IRE) 8 Gordon Elliott
- Conflated (IRE) 9 Gordon Elliott
- Corach Rambler 9 Lucinda Russell
- Darasso (IRE) 10 Joseph Patrick O’Brien
- Darrens Hope (IRE) 9 Robert Murphy
- Death Duty (IRE) 12 Gordon Elliott
- Defi Bleu (IRE) 10 Gordon Elliott
- Delta Work (IRE) 10 Gordon Elliott
- Diol Ker (IRE) 9 Noel Meade
- Dunboyne (IRE) 8 Gordon Elliott
- Enjoy D’allen (IRE) 9 Ciaran Murphy
- Envoi Allen (IRE) 9 Henry De Bromhead
- Escaria Ten (IRE) 9 Gordon Elliott
- Eva’s Oskar 9 Tim Vaughan
- Fakiera (IRE) 8 Gordon Elliott
- Fantastikas 8 Nigel Twiston-Davies
- Farclas (IRE) 9 Gordon Elliott
- Fiddlerontheroof 9 Joe Tizzard
- Fortescue 9 Henry Daly
- Francky Du Berlais 10 Peter Bowen
- Franco De Port (IRE) 8 WP Mullins
- Frontal Assault (IRE) 8 Gordon Elliott
- Fury Road (IRE) 9 Gordon Elliott
- Gabbys Cross (IRE) 8 Henry De Bromhead
- Gaillard Du Mesnil (IRE) 7 WP Mullins
- Ga Law 7 Jamie Snowden
- Galvin (IRE) 9 Gordon Elliott
- Gevrey (IRE) 7 Gordon Elliott
- Gin On Lime (IRE) 7 Henry De Bromhead
- Glamorgan Duke (IRE) 10 Paul John Gilligan
- Grumpy Charley 8 Chris Honour
- Happygolucky 9 Kim Bailey
- Hewick (IRE) 8 John Joseph Hanlon
- Hill Sixteen 10 Sandy Thomson
- Iwilldoit 10 Sam Thomas
- Le Milos 8 Dan Skelton
- Lifetime Ambition (IRE) 8 Mrs John Harrington
- Longhouse Poet (IRE) 9 Martin Brassil
- Lord Lariat (IRE) 8 Dermot A McLoughlin
- Milan Native (IRE) 10 Gordon Elliott
- Minella Crooner (IRE) 7 Gordon Elliott
- Minella Times (IRE) 10 Henry De Bromhead
- Minella Trump 9 Donald McCain
- Mister Coffey 8 Nicky Henderson
- Mortal (IRE) 11 Gordon Elliott
- Mr Incredible (IRE) 7 WP Mullins
- Nearly Perfect 9 Neil King
- Noble Yeats (IRE) 8 Emmet Mullins
- Our Power 8 Sam Thomas
- Pencilfulloflead (IRE) 9 Gordon Elliott
- Punitive (IRE) 9 Gordon Elliott
- Quick Wave 10 Venetia Williams
- Rapper 9 Henry Daly
- Recite A Prayer (IRE) 8 WP Mullins
- Remastered 10 David Pipe
- Riders Onthe Storm 10 Richard Hobson
- Roi Mage 11 Patrick Griffin
- Royale Pagaille 9 Venetia Williams
- Sam Brown 11 Anthony Honeyball
- Secret Reprieve 9 Evan Williams
- Sporting John 8 Philip Hobbs
- The Big Breakaway 8 Joe Tizzard
- The Big Dog (IRE) 10 Peter Fahey
- The Shunter (IRE) 10 Emmet Mullins
- Threeunderthrufive 8 Paul Nicholls
- Vanillier (IRE) 8 Gavin Cromwell
- Velvet Elvis (IRE) 7 Thomas Gibney
How The Entries Get Whittled Down
As we move through the next few weeks and months, those 85 entries will eventually get reduced down to the 40 that will start the race on Saturday April 15th 2023.
In order to qualify for the race, prior to March 29th a horse must have started in a steeplechase during the current season, and have been placed first, second, third or fourth in a steeplechase with an official distance description of ‘two miles seven and a half furlongs’ or more, at any time during the horse’s career.
Horses must be also allotted a rating of 125 or more by the BHA Handicapper following a review of the horses entered and after taking account of races run up to and including February 20th.
To qualify, horses must have run at least three times in Steeple Chases run under the Rules of Racing of the same Recognised Racing Authority up to and including February 20th.
At the Handicapper’s discretion, such horses may be allotted a rating.
Entries closed on the 7th of February (85 entries), and the weights will be revealed on 21st February 2023.
The first scratchings deadline is the 8th of March. The second scratchings deadline is the 29th of March. Five-day confirmation stage is on the 11th of April with the final declaration stage on the 14th of April.
For all the odds, check out our odds page and don’t forget that there will be a lot of betting offers on the run up to the race so we will also keep you up to date with them.
We will also be spending a lot of time on producing some great tips, so don’t forget to check them out closer to the race.
