Grand National 2024: Coral Gold Cup winner heads Aintree betting
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Datsalrightgino is joint favourite at 16/1 in Coral’s 2024 Grand National odds after coming from last to first under Gavin Sheehan to win the Coral Gold Cup for Jamie Snowden.
Lambourn handler Snowden continues to make his mark, adding one of the most prestigious races on the calendar to his Paddy Power Gold Cup win with Ga Law and the Cheltenham Festival success of You Wear It Well.
Sheehan was not even supposed to be riding Datsalrightgino as he was meant to be heading north to Newcastle to ride his two stablemates in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Rehearsal Chase respectively.
With that meeting abandoned due to snow and frost, Sheehan stayed closer to home and produced a peach of a ride on the 16/1 winner.
🥶 Some ride @GavinSheehan92
A last to first victory for Datsalrightgino in the £250,000 @Coral Gold Cup @NewburyRacing | @jamiesnowden | 👇 pic.twitter.com/ApuYHjxPjz
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) December 2, 2023
Snowden said: “These big handicaps are very hard to win and fair play to the whole team.
“He’s not short of speed and we’ve been mainly campaigning over two miles as a novice chaser and he improved 20lb and Gavin said ‘I can’t wait to go up to three miles’. He was right, that was the first time up at three miles and how right was Gavin.
“It’s the Coral Gold Cup, it’s a wonderful, wonderful race and one of the biggest chases of the season, so you can’t really have high expectations but we knew he was in good order and we knew there might be some exposure in his mark over that trip if it worked.
“It’s weird how things work out but thankfully Gav was on board and he knows the horse so well. Thankfully it all worked well in the end.”
I Am Maximus proves stamina
Another of the four joint-favourites in the 2024 Grand National odds is I Am Maximus after he made a victorious return to Fairyhouse to secure Grade One glory in the Bar One Racing Drinmore Novice Chase.
The seven-year-old won the Irish Grand National at the track back in April, defying his novice status to claim a length success in the Easter highlight for trainer Willie Mullins.
Having his first start since then – and his last in novice company – I Am Maximus travelled well into the race for Jody McGarvey, having been happy to let 5/4 favourite Letsbeclearaboutit cut out much of the early running.
Found A Fifty was also to the fore and it looked between the three of them coming down to the final two obstacles, with Letsbeclearaboutit the first to crack.
The BoyleSports Irish Grand National hero returns to land the Grade 1 @BarOneRacing Drinmore Novice Chase!
I Am Maximus wins our highlight over fences today for Willie Mullins, Jody McGarvey and J P McManus 👏 pic.twitter.com/o7S0g0TnsL
— FairyhouseRacecourse (@Fairyhouse) December 3, 2023
A slow jump at the last hardly helped Found A Fifty’s cause and, dropping back to two and a half miles – nine furlongs less than the Irish National distance – I Am Maximus (11/1) had more than enough stamina to assert again on the run-in and win by two and a half lengths.
Mullins said: “That’s a nice bonus on his last day as a novice. He looks a class horse now rather than a handicapper, so maybe we’ll have to make different plans for him now.
“This year, we were maybe looking at going for the English National and whether we change and go for Grade One races now, I’m not sure.
“We’ll have to have a word with Frank (Berry, racing manager) and JP (McManus, owner) and see what they want to do.”
2024 Grand National odds
16/1 Corach Rambler, Datsalrightgino, Gaillard Du Mesnil, I Am Maximus
20/1 Fastorslow, Kitty’s Light, Mahler Mission, Monbeg Genius
25/1 Feronily, Noble Yeats, Vanillier
View the latest Grand National odds
All odds and market correct at date of publication
