The Grand National is an early closing race, with weights allocated based on horses’ official ratings on a date more than a month in advance of the contest. Every year many of the entrants will race between that date and the day of the race itself.
In doing so, a select group of ‘well-in’ runners will reveal themselves to be capable of performing to a higher official rating than the one the handicapper used to decide their National weight. This year just three such horses remain within touching distance of a place in the 40-runner final field.
Three 2023 Grand National runners well-in at the weights
Corach Rambler @ 6/1
Mr Incredible @ 14/1
Our Power @ 25/1
View the latest Grand National ante-post odds from Betzone
Corach Rambler
Official BHA Chase Rating at time of Grand National weights: 146
Current Official BHA Chase Rating: 156
There can be little surprise that Corach Rambler is the Grand National favourite after the Lucinda Russell trained nine-old landed the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival for the second year in succession.
He defied 11st 5lbs to land the race with his customary late surge and the handicapper’s reassessment makes him a hefty 10lbs better than the mark that determined his National weight.
Russell and jockey Derek Fox combined for both Corach Rambler’s Festival wins and the pair have previous experience of landing the Aintree marathon too, striking with One For Arthur in 2017.
To make his case even more appealing he currently sneaks close to the bottom of the weights, so even if more horses come out of the race he should avoid too heavy a burden.
Our Power
Official BHA Chase Rating at time of Grand National weights: 141
Current Official BHA Chase Rating: 147
From a horse guaranteed a run in Corach Rambler to another that will need a substantial dose of good fortune to make the final field in Our Power.
Sam Thomas’ eight-year-old may be best saved for the non-runner no bet market because he currently sits 52nd on the list of entrants, meaning he needs to 12 horses above in the handicap not to run in order to get in.
Rated 141 at the time the weights were allocated, no runner has contested the National off a mark that low since 2015.
Now rated 6lbs better following a Kempton win in late February he would surely have got in had it not been for a vet’s certificate ruling him out of the Coral Trophy back in November.
Mr Incredible
Official BHA Chase Rating at time of Grand National weights: 145
Current Official BHA Chase Rating: 147
Already named like a Grand National winner, it’s felt like there’s been a big handicap pot with Mr Incredible’s name on it ever since he was snapped up by ultra-shrewd owner Paul Byrne and moved from Henry De Bromhead to Willie Mullins last November.
Byrne’s reputation as a man with an eye for a horse with a vast amount of improvement up their sleeves has been cemented after he plucked The Shunter, Noble Yeats and Corbett’s Cross from obscurity before later selling them on for tidy profits.
Mr Wonderful is now rated 2lbs higher than the mark that dictates his Grand National weight after finishing third in the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival. He’ll need only one more defection from the horses ahead of him in the queue to be guaranteed a run at Aintree.
