Grand National Tips: Black Apalachi

Going against the crowd is often a good way to make money and the crowd doesn’t get any bigger than for the Grand National. Every newspaper pullout on Saturday will mention how its 89 years since a 13-year-old last won the race, when they discuss the chances of Black Apalachi.

They will neglect to mention that he finished second in the race in 2010 and that he won the Becher Chase, over National fences, back in 2008. The Grand National is such an idiosyncratic race that experience should be seen as a positive not a negative.

Black Apalachi hasn’t raced much in the last couple of years but crucially he was able to take part in his usual prep race, the BobbyJo Chase at Fairyhouse. He finished runner-up, the third time he has scored a top-two position in the race. He also recorded a Topspeed figure almost identical to his previous runs, suggesting he hasn’t slowed down with age.

BobbyJo Chase - 25 February 2012

If you watch the race from 4minutes onwards, you’d think he was going to finish tailed off, but he makes up a huge amount of ground to finish 6 lengths behind the winner. The extra 11 furlongs of the Grand National can only see him improve.

In Black Apalachi we have a horse with course experience and huge reserves of stamina. At 50/1 (William Hill) he is a cracking each way bet with ¼ odds for a top four finish.