It’s seventy-four years since Teal won the Grand National, for trainer Neville Crump, having previously honed his skill over fences by taking the Buccleuch Cup at Kelso.

Restricted to maiden hunterchasers, the Buccleuch Cup remains Kelso’s longest running race having being staged continuously since steeplechasing moved up the road from Stodrig in 1883. While it’s possible that the next running of the Buccleuch Cup, a week on Monday, could feature a future Grand National winner, other races in the Kelso programme have become more meaningful trials – including the Premier Steeplechase which provided a final stepping stone for Ballabriggs in 2011.

Iroko, 12/1 for the Aintree feature, was second to Grey Dawning (winner of the Grade 1 Melling Chase on Friday) in the bet365 Premier Steeplechase last year, but he’ll be the only runner in this year’s Grand National to have ever set foot on the track at Kelso.

One reason for the paucity of Kelso form is the prevalence of Irish trained entries in this year’s Grand National, with 22 of the 34 runners crossing the Irish Sea including eight trained by Willie Mullins and five by Gordon Elliott. While Scottish racegoers had a chance to see the Mullins trained Captain Cody when he won the Scottish Grand National at Ayr almost exactly a year ago, there have been precious few opportunities to see many of the other runners at a Scottish track.

An honourable exception is The Real Whacker, trained by Paddy Neville (an Irishman based in Yorkshire) who started his season in a handicap hurdle race at Perth in September and carries the weight of our blog-selection at odds of 80/1 or more. A winner of the RSA Novices Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2023, The Real Whacker beat Gerri Colombe on that occasion – who can be backed at 25/1 (less than a third of The Real Whacker’s odds) despite reopposing on fifteen pounds worse terms.

Both horses are now ten years old and, while there have been no winners aged older than nine in the last ten runnings of the Grand National, during the previous twelve years there had been no winners aged younger than nine – and 75% of those were aged ten years or older.

There will be some that believe the many changes made to the race, as part of efforts to reduce the risk of injury, favour younger horses. But, despite the easier fences and reduced field size, the winner will still require an abundance of stamina, a touch of class, and is likely to be carrying a lowish weight. The Real Whacker qualifies on all scores, being a Grade 1 winner over 3 miles and shouldering just 10st 9lb.

It’s worth remembering, among the hubbub of Britain’s highest profile race, that our love of the sport is entirely driven by our love of the horses – and that their welfare is at the heart of everything we do. A good race is one that sets a fair test for horse and jockey, produces a joyous winner, and in which all the horses return safely.