The countdown to the Grand National Festival is on, with just a matter of days to go until the three-day extravaganza gets underway at Aintree Racecourse in Merseyside. The Grand National itself is, of course, the star attraction of the 13-15 April meeting, but there are multiple graded races to keep us entertained until the 5:15 showpiece on the Saturday — including 11 Grade 1s.
The Grand National is famous for its unique and testing fences (one of which is pictured above), but it’s not the only race that takes place over the taxing obstacles at Aintree throughout the three-day festival — with the Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase taking place on day one and the Topham Handicap Chase featuring on day two.
That said, let’s take a look at three races that take place over the challenging fences and see how they differentiate from one another.
Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase
Often referred to as the amateur’s Grand National, the Foxhunters’ Chase is open only to non-professional riders — adding an extra level of interest to this already intriguing contest. It is raced over a distance of two miles and five furlongs, with 18 of the National fences to take along the way.
Last year’s Grand National winner and former Gold Cup champion Sam Waley-Cohen is the most successful jockey in the race’s storied history, with three wins aboard Katarino (2005 & 2006) and Warne in 2014.
Winger Leader is this year’s favourite at 4/1. The David Christie-trained horse was second by a neck to Billaway in the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival, but has bounced back with two point-to-point wins this year.
Topham Handicap Chase
A Premier Handicap (formerly Grade 3), the Topham Handicap Chase is also contested over two miles and five furlongs and 18 fences. However, it boasts a much bigger prize purse than that of the Foxhunters’ — with £84,195 up for grabs for the winner compared to just £24,155 for landing the day one race.
Veteran trainer Nicky Henderson and last year’s winner Peter Bowen are the two most successful trainers in the race’s history with five winners apiece, while Barry Geraghty and Richard Dunwoody are the two most successful jockeys with three winning rides each.
There’s very little to separate the horses at the top of the market if you’re looking for Topham Handicap Chase bets on this year’s race, with Gesskille the favourite at 7/1 followed by Dan Skelton’s Ashtown Lad (8/1) and Haut En Couleurs (8/1) for three-time winner Willie Mullins.
Grand National
Dubbed the race the world stops to watch, Grand National viewing figures are usually around the 500 million mark across the globe. That, along with the race’s rich history and £1 million prize pot makes it one of the premier contests that every owner, breeder, trainer and jockey wants to win each and every year.
While the fences have changed a fair bit over the years since the Grand National’s inauguration in 1839, including 12 of the 16 rebuilt in 2012 to make them more forgiving, the likes of Becher’s Brook, Foinavon and the Canal Turn are still incredibly testing for horse and rider and the race’s marathon distance (4m2½f) doesn’t make it any easier.
Defending champion Noble Yeats is hoping to join just a handful of horses to land back-to-back wins and is much shorter than his 50/1 odds from 12 months ago at 8/1. However, Cheltenham Festival winner Corach Rambler is the favourite for Lucinda Russell at 11/2.
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The Becher Chase, usually ran in December, is the only other race contested over the Grand National fences.
