There is a category of Grand National runner that gets lumped together under the general heading of “also-rans” before the first fence has even been jumped.
Horses at 66/1 tend to fall into that bracket by default, the assumption being that the odds tell you everything you need to know.
But the Grand National has a long and well-documented habit of making a fool of anyone who reaches that conclusion too quickly.
The Real Whacker is a ten-year-old trained by Patrick Neville, and he arrives at Aintree this year carrying exactly that price.
His form guide for this season is not pretty, and nobody is pretending otherwise. But strip it back a little further, and the picture is rather more interesting than the starting price suggests.
A Cheltenham Grade 1 Winner in a Different Light
The Real Whacker is not a horse who stumbled into Grade 1 company by accident. In March 2023 at the Cheltenham Festival, he won a novice chase at Grade 1 level, beating a field of ten on soft ground at 8/1.
That remains his career best, and it is a mark of ability that most horses in this year’s Grand National field simply have not reached.
He followed that with a fourth in the King George VI Chase at Kempton over Christmas 2023, competing against the best staying chasers in Britain and Ireland.
He then won the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby in November 2024, beating the former King George winner Bravemansgame by three and a half lengths, before finishing fourth in that same King George again at Christmas.
For a horse about to be dismissed at three figures, that is quite a CV.
What the More Recent Form Shows
The form since November 2024 tells a more complicated story, and it would be dishonest not to address it.
He won the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby in November 2024, which at the time looked like a return to near his best form. That win now stands as his most recent victory over fences, and it was an encouraging one.
But the current campaign has been flat. He was fifth at Wetherby in November 2025 on good ground and then, in January 2026, was stepped back over hurdles at Cheltenham’s Grade 2 meeting, finishing last of six. That hurdle run can probably be set aside.
Sports News Blitz noted in February that Neville’s horse “might have gone a tad off the boil recently, but if he can find a return to form, he could be overlooked in the market” and observed that 10st 9lb “might well be quite flattering for him.”
Does He Have Any Chance?
At ten years old, he is just above what the statistics would call the sweet spot, though ten-year-olds win the race regularly, and it is not a meaningful disadvantage in the way that a horse of twelve would be.
His weight of 10st 9lb sits below the 10st 10lb to 11st 6lb band that has produced the majority of recent winners, which means he carries less than ideal weight for statistical purposes, but equally it gives him a light enough burden to travel through the field without being asked to work too hard early on.
His chase record includes four wins over fences, and he has won over three miles, both of which matter in terms of the experience and stamina profile the race demands.
His recent form, finishing outside the top four in his last two starts, also puts him on the wrong side of a stat that suggests 21 of the last 33 winners came into the race having finished in the first four last time out.
Patrick Neville and the 66/1 Case
Patrick Neville is not one of the powerhouse names in the training ranks, and The Real Whacker has moved around in his career, spending time with Ann Duffield before returning to Neville’s yard.
The unspectacular recent form and the modest profile of the stable are the two clearest reasons why the bookmakers have settled on long odds.
The honest reservation is that the 2025-26 season has not shown a horse in the kind of condition you would ideally want to see before a race of this magnitude. The Wetherby fifth was below his best, and the hurdle run at Cheltenham was poor.
Horses can rediscover their form in the right race, though, and the Grand National sometimes produces performances that nothing in the preceding form book has prepared you for.
Is There an Each-Way Case?
At a starting price of 66/1, the case for a small each-way interest is essentially this: the horse won a Grade 1 at the Cheltenham Festival, he has competed at the highest level of staying chasing, and his weight is low enough to let him travel without being scrubbed along through the early stages.
The Grand National has produced 66/1 winners within living memory, not by accident but because the race is long, unpredictable, and full of horses who find something they could not find anywhere else.
The race rewards stamina, jumping ability, and a degree of fortune in running, and The Real Whacker has evidence of the first two on his record, even if this season has not shown them at their best.
Whether he is in the right condition to produce that form again on Grand National day is the question nobody can answer with confidence, and at 66/1 the market has already reached its verdict.
But if you are looking for a reason to take a small each-way interest in a horse with a proper profile at a very long price, the form book suggests there is at least a case to be made.
BETFRED
