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Walsh National dilemma as Big Fella impresses

With less than five weeks to go the 2010 Aintree Grand National, Ruby Walsh must be the envy of his weighing room colleagues as Paul Nicholls’ stable jockey faces the dilemma of choosing from an embarrassment of riches ahead of the world’s greatest steeplechase, writes Elliot Slater.
 
The victory of Big Fella Thanks over his better fancied stable companion Pasco at the weekend, must have been a bitter-sweet moment for Walsh who was on board the runner-up and had to watch fellow Irish star jockey Barry Geraghty do the steering on the 8/1 winner. From such a close vantage point Walsh must have been able to judge just how good the performance of Harry Findlay’s eight-year-old was, but there is no doubt that most of the leading betting firms took the victory seriously enough to make Big Fella Thanks joint-favourite with stable companion Tricky Trickster.
 
Most aintree grand national 2010 runners and prices now go 10/1 for both the Nicholls runners, although Ladbrokes and William Hill are the standouts at present going 12/1 the field.
 
Picking the right horse to ride for Aintree is going to be a particularly hard choice for Walsh, as both Tricky Trickster and Big Fella Thanks look ideal types for the four-and-a-half mile marathon. What surprised many people at Newbury was the fact that Big Fella Thanks (sixth to Mon Mome at Aintree in the 2009 renewal), showed enough pace over two-and-a-half miles to beat some decent opposition. He clearly is in great heart and put in a flawless round of jumping having unseated Ruby Walsh at Kempton on his previous outing.
 
Tricky Trickster was also tremendously impressive last time out when coming with a withering late run to deny Niche Market by a short-head in the Aon Chase at Newbury early last month.
 
Nicholls clearly has a very strong hand in the stayers’ department, but it is down to Walsh as to which leading candidate he will partner on the big day. His eventual choice is sure to result in a further trimming of that horse’s odds with the betting fraternity well aware that Walsh is very much a ‘housewives favourite’.

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