There are two kinds of horses at 80/1 in the Grand National field. The first kind has no business being there. The second kind has history, class, and a story worth reading before the race.
Beauport belongs to the second category, and if you have been paying attention to the longer-distance chasing scene over the past couple of years, the price looks more like a reflection of a difficult current season than a fair assessment of what he is actually capable of.
Beauport is a ten-year-old trained by Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies at their yard in Naunton.
He is owned by Bryan and Philippa Burrough, who have form in this department: they owned Corbiere, who won the Grand National in 1983.
The history of the connection and the race runs deep, and the owners have always had an eye for the right type of horse for Aintree.
Beauport, as Sam Twiston-Davies noted ahead of last year’s race, very much fits the bill.
The Twiston-Davies family has won the Grand National twice before, with Earth Summit in 1998 and Bindaree in 2002. A third would be a remarkable story.
At 80/1, the bookmakers are not expecting it. But the form book tells you something different to the price.
The Berkshire National and What It Meant
In November 2024, Beauport produced one of the most striking performances of the entire National Hunt season.
He won the Berkshire National at Ascot, a race run over three miles and five furlongs on good ground, by 31 lengths.
The winning margin was not a fluke born of a falling field; he simply came clear three fences out and galloped on relentlessly, posting a Racing Post Rating of 160, the best of his career over fences.
Six weeks later, he went back to Ascot and finished third in the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle, beaten just over a length by the winner.
Before that, in March 2024, he had won the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter, a race run over four miles and two furlongs on heavy ground.
Jockey Jordan Nailor completed the race with only one stirrup iron, having lost the other during the race, and won by a length and three-quarters from My Silver Lining.
A horse who can win over that trip, in those conditions, while his jockey is riding with one iron, is not short of ability or stamina.
He Has Already Run in the Grand National
Beauport lined up for the 2025 Grand National at 33/1 and finished twelfth of the sixteen that completed the course.
The race was won by Nick Rockett at the same odds, which is worth remembering. Beauport was not disgraced; he was beaten by horses who happened to be better on the day.
Sam Twiston-Davies, who rode him in 2025 and is set to partner him again, described him ahead of last year as an economical jumper who stays the trip well and is straightforward to ride.
“From the moment he won the Berkshire National at Ascot, the plan was always to aim for Aintree,” he said at the time. “The Grand National has always been the end goal.”
A Difficult Season Honestly Assessed
The current season has not gone to plan, but context matters. The winter of 2025/26 was extraordinarily wet, saturating racecourses across Britain and Ireland for months on end, and the form of almost every horse in this year’s Grand National field has been affected to some degree.
Beauport’s complications were compounded by wind surgery after he pulled up in the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in December 2025.
He returned in February at Haydock, finishing fourth in a Grade 2 hurdle on ground that was at least manageable, and the effort was encouraging enough to suggest he had come through the procedure in reasonable shape.
It is not the kind of preparation a punter dreams of seeing, but it is worth remembering that very few horses in this field have had a straightforward winter.
Does Beauport Fit the Grand National Winner Profile?
At ten years old, he is at the upper end of what the form book would suggest is the sweet spot, though ten-year-olds win regularly, and it is not a barrier in itself.
His weight of 10st 9lb sits just below the range that has produced the most recent winners, which lightens his burden without necessarily indicating he lacks ability.
He has four chase wins to his name, including victories over marathon distances, and has clearly demonstrated he can stay four miles and more.
Nigel Twiston-Davies, the Race, and the 80/1 Case
There is something compelling about a trainer who has won the Grand National twice, bringing a horse back to Aintree at big odds.
Nigel Twiston-Davies knows what the race requires. He knows the fences, the demands, the preparation, and the type of horse that gives you a chance.
The fact that Beauport is in the field at all reflects a considered judgment that the horse has what it takes, even if this season’s form has been complicated by surgery and recovery.
The case for an each-way interest is simply this: a horse who won the Midlands Grand National by a length and three-quarters, who produced a career-best Racing Post Rating of 160 at Ascot, who completed last year’s race safely from start to finish, and whose trainer has already won this race twice, is not a horse you dismiss entirely.
So much of the Grand National comes down to staying out of trouble, getting the trip, and arriving at the elbow with something left to give.
At 80/1, backing a horse who has shown he can do all of that is not the worst punt you will make all year.
BETFRED
