The 2022 Grand National is scheduled to take place on Saturday 9th April 2022 and so today, the six-day declaration stage took place.
The biggest surprise was that trainer Henry De Bromhead withdrew Chris’s Dream, who has become the default top-weighted horse when the Conflated, Galvin and Melon were withdrawn on March 22nd.
With Chris’s Dream now out of contention, the dubious honour of being the top weight now falls to last year’s winner, Minella Times.
Ridden by Rachael Blackmore in 2021, the duo rode straight into the history books when Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the race. Hopes were high that they would renew their winning partnership again for 2022.
Now that Minella Times will have to carry 11-10 around the course, that task has become nearly impossible. Only Red Rum has ever managed to return and win on top weight. Even Tiger Roll went off on less, winning his second National carrying just 11-05.
So will Blackmore choose to ride Minella Times again or are there other options?
Technically trainer De Bromhead still has three other potential runners involved. Two are guaranteed to start the race and they are Poker Party which has managed to sneak in, in 40th place, today and Court Maid.
Court Maid is a mare and looks set to carry a very handy 10-12. Then there is Plan Of Attack but sitting at number 55 means he is very unlikely to get a place in 2022.
Horses Withdrawn At 6 Day Declaration Stage
Along with Chris’s Dream only three other horses were withdrawn today.
They are Chatham Street Lad from trainer Michael Winters, Go Another One from Denis Hogan and Romain de Senam from Christian Williams.
Highland Hunter from Paul Nicholls had already been declared a non-runner due to injury.
That meant that both Blaklion and Poker Party managed to secure spots.
Blaklion is the oldest horse entered this year. At 13-years-old he is bidding to become the oldest winner since Sergeant Murphy won the race in 1923.
While that seems highly unlikely, he is a veteran of this course and first ran in the Grand National in 2017. He finished in 6th place last year and there’s nothing to suggest that he can’t do it again in 2022.
Poker Party doesn’t have a lot of experience at this distance and tried his hand at the Cross Country at Cheltenham in preparation. However, he pulled up under Rachael Blackmore so she may look elsewhere for Aintree.
Weights For The 2022 Grand National
We all know that top weight for the Grand National must carry 11-10. The BHA Handicapper originally allocated that weight to Conflated and Galvin but once they were scratched, alongside Melon, it meant Chris’s Dream had to carry it.
It also meant that all horses saw a weight increase of 5lbs. Once again, the weights have gone up, this time by an additional one pound.
Given the current weather at Aintree and the announcement that the going is now considered ‘Good to Soft’, that extra pound could genuinely handicap a lot of them out of the race.
An interesting point to make here is that in 2021 there were 15 finishers in the race. None of them carried more than 10-13. That is something to consider when looking down the odds in the betting market.
Of the top ten in the betting on Paddy Power, only nine are guaranteed a spot in the race and of those only TWO will carry less than 10-13. They are Snow Leopardess and Enjoy D’allen.
40 Runners For 2022 Grand National
The final declaration stage for the 2022 Grand National will take place on Thursday 7th April at 10am.
At that point, the final 40 runners will be declared and four reserves will be announced should any of the top 40 get withdrawn on Friday morning.
So for now here is the current Grand National 2022 line-up.
- 1 Minella Times – 11 10 – Henry De Bromhead
- 2 Delta Work – 11 09 – Gordon Elliott
- 3 Easysland – 11 08 – Jonjo O’Neill
- 4 Any Second Now – 11 08 – Ted Walsh
- 5 Run Wild Fred – 11 08 – Gordon Elliott
- 6 Lostintranslation – 11 06 – Colin Tizzard
- 7 Brahma Bull – 11 06 – Willie Mullins
- 8 Battleoverdoyen – 11 06 – Gordon Elliott
- 9 Burrows Saint – 11 05 – Willie Mullins
- 10 Mount Ida – 11 05 – Gordon Elliott
- 11 Longhouse Poet – 11 04 – Martin Brassil
- 12 Fiddlerontheroof – 11 03 – Colin Tizzard
- 13 Two For Gold – 11 03 – Kim Bailey
- 14 Santini – 11 02 – Polly Gundry
- 15 Samcro – 11 01 – Gordon Elliott
- 16 Farclas – 11 01 – Gordon Elliott
- 17 Escaria Ten – 11 01 – Gordon Elliott
- 18 Good Boy Bobby – 10 13 – Nigel Twiston-Davies
- 19 Lord du Mesnil – 10 13 – Richard Hobson
- 20 Coko Beach – 10 13 – Gordon Elliott
- 21 De Rasher Counter – 10 12 – Emma Lavelle
- 22 Caribean Boy – 10 12 – Nicky Henderson
- 23 Court Maid – 10 12 – Henry De Bromhead
- 24 Kildisart – 10 11 – Ben Pauling
- 25 Discorama – 10 11 – Paul Nolan
- 26 Top Ville Ben – 10 11 – Philip Kirby
- 27 Enjoy d’Allen – 10 11 – Ciaran Murphy
- 28 Anibale Fly – 10 11 – Tony Martin
- 29 Dingo Dollar – 10 11 – Sandy Thomson
- 30 Freewheelin Dylan – 10 10 – Dermot McLoughlin
- 31 Class Conti – 10 10 – Willie Mullins
- 32 Noble Yeats – 10 10 – Emmet Mullins
- 33 Mighty Thunder – 10 10 – Lucinda Russell
- 34 Cloth Cap – 10 10 – Jonjo O’Neill
- 35 Snow Leopardess – 10 09 – Charlie Longsdon
- 36 Agusta Gold – 10 09 – Willie Mullins
- 37 Phoenix Way – 10 09 – Harry Fry
- 38 Deise Aba – 10 08 – Philip Hobbs
- 39 Blaklion – 10 08 – Dan Skelton
- 40 Poker Party – 10 08 – Tom George
- 41 Death Duty – 10 07 – Nicky Henderson
- 42 Domaine de L’Isle – 10 07 – Warren Greatrex
- 43 Eclair Surf – 10 06 – Evan Williams
- 44 Fortescue – 10 06 – John McConnell
