Grand National Trial Handicap Chase Betting Tips, Winners & History

Next Race: TBD

The next renewal of this race has not been scheduled yet. We will update this once the schedule has been released for next season. The race info, trends and tips shown below will be updated for the next renewal once the final declarations have been made.

Grand National Trial Betting Tips

Note: The following tips are from 2021. Tips for the next renewal will be added once the final declarations have been made.

Lucinda Russell, Fred Rimell and Neville Crump boast the all-time lead amongst trainers in this race with three wins apiece. Bidding to join that trio this year is two-time winner Venetia Williams who sends Achille to post.

The two seven year olds, Notachance and Enqarde head the betting, however recent age trends are against the duo, with each of the past 10 renewals having fallen to a runner aged eight or older. Indeed, an 11 year old won last year and in 2015, with 10 year old Robinsfirth victorious in 2019.

We had a big shock with the 33/1 success of Smooth Stepper in this race 12 months ago, but overall the market leaders haven’t fared badly in what is invariably a competitive heat. The past 10 years have witnessed two winning favourites, sneaking jolly backers into a £0.50 profit to £1 level stakes. What’s more, with seven of the 10 most recent victors being priced at odds of 8/1 or shorter, the top of the market is definitely the place to focus. Looking further back, Smooth Stepper is the only horse to have won this one at odds bigger than 18/1 in the last two decades.

Notachance – 10/3

Despite his name, and the fact that the age trend is against him, Alan King’s Notachance, actually looks to boast pretty strong claims here and currently sits atop the market. The bookies certainly think he has a chance and, frankly, so do we.

Being one of the youngest runners in the field may not be a positive when looking at the recent results of the race, but does come with the plus side that he is one of the more lightly raced contenders and therefore more likely to have something in hand from the handicapper. Making just his seventh start over fences here, the mount of Tom Cannon certainly scores top marks for consistency, having only once finished outside of the first two in those six previous efforts.

The pick of those performances came last time out, in what was his first outing at beyond 3m in the 3m5f Classic Chase at Warwick. Toughing it out in really good style to score by half a length that day, he looks to be well suited by this sort of test and can go well from this 7lb higher mark. The ground should suit him nicely and he is definitely a worthy favourite.

Achille – 10/1

If you like the form claims of the market leader, then it’s tough not to be drawn to the each way chance of the 11 year old, Achille, particularly as he hails from the yard of Venetia Williams who has sent out two of the last seven winners of this. With 11 year olds doing very well in this contest of late, Achille has more than just form on his side too.

Hit and miss when trained in France, and slow to come to the boil upon joining the Williams operation in 2015, this likeable grey has certainly discovered some consistency now, and arrives here having finished inside the first two in seven of his last eight starts. Three times a winner on soft, the current going looks to be in his favour, and he boasts a couple of excellent efforts over this sort of trip, including when chasing home the talented West Approach in a Grade 3 at Cheltenham in 2019.

It is, however, his effort last time out which really catches the eye, as it was he who finished just a ½l behind Notachance in that Classic Chase contest - an effort which was all the more meritorious considering it was his first outing in 427 days. That is a lot of time away from the track and sure to strip fitter here, and getting a 3lb pull in the weights with his Warwick conqueror, he shouldn’t be too far away at a very nice price.

Ramses De Teillee – 11/1

Another who is well worth a second glance at a double figure price is the top weight Ramses De Teillee. A burden of 11st12lb admittedly doesn’t make life easy at first glance, but Fergus Gillard claims 5lb meaning the nine year old will be saddled with a more manageable 11st7lb. Effectively taking his mark down to 147, that would look to give him every chance if at something like his best.

On the downside, Ramses De Teillee does need to bounce back from a couple of poor efforts having finished well adrift in the Becher Chase and the Welsh Grand National. The Becher Chase performance is easy enough to forgive as he was simply clueless over the National fences, whilst he was beaten so far from home at Chepstow that something was surely amiss.

An excellent second to Elegant Escape in the 2018 edition of the Welsh National, he would look to have the required stamina for this and, most significantly of all, he also ran a cracker in this very race in 2019. Running off 149 that day, with no claimer in the saddle, he went down by just a ½l at the line on ground that was likely quicker than ideal. Looking as well as ever when outbattling Yala Enki – no easy task – in a Grade 3 at Cheltenham as recently as November 2020, he can go well for a trainer who took this with the excellent Vieux Lion Rouge in 2017.