Cappa Bleu – Grand National 2012 – Ante-Post

With Cheltenham now firmly in the rear view mirror as we navigate our way along the rather bumpy highway of the jumps season, it’s now time to turn attention towards Aintree and the Grand National, which is now just a matter of weeks away.

The Grand National is without a doubt the biggest, and most important, race of the season in either discipline and there’s a certain cache to be had from finding the winner.

I’ve had a strong ante-post pick for the race for some time now and that is the Evan Williams-trained Cappa Bleu, currently available at 20/1 for the big race.

Cappa Bleu jumps a fence beautifully and although he’s never had a taste of Aintree’s big, incomparable fences he came from point to points and won a competitive Foxhunters at Cheltenham on his first start under rules, so I don’t think the hustle and bustle and often reckless nature of the Grand National should trouble him.

Following his impressive Foxhunters win back in 2009, Cappa Bleu was next sent to the Hennessy for which he was well fancied but he failed to complete for the only time in his career; falling after looking good for quite some way, in a race that will go down in history for Denman’s heroics.

Considered good enough to run, and run well, in the most competitive of handicaps, Cappa Bleu is clearly a talented horse, he has had a number of problems since that Hennessy fall – a season over hurdles didn’t really bring out the best in him and culminated in him being horribly tailed off in the Albert Bartlett at the Festival – but a return to the larger obstacles after a lengthy absence seems to have brought him right back to his best, as you would expect for an out and out stayer and all round solid jumper.

He ran on from a mile back to finish 3rd in the Welsh National under a big weight on horrible ground, after making a winning return in a strong handicap at Haydock (the form of which has taken a couple of boosts, not least with another National fancy Killyglen [3rd] winning in Ireland at the weekend).

Once the National weights were published, he was out at Ascot, where he ran a good race on a right-handed track that probably didn’t suit. That day he finished third having looked like he needed every inch of the first 2½ miles to wake up, which can only strengthen his claims for the marathon Grand National trip, as he is a tough stayer for whom further should bring even more improvement. The form of this race has just taken a boost as well with Chance Du Roy, 4th behind Cappa Bleu that day, winning earlier this week.

Still lightly raced for a ten-year-old and thus relatively unexposed, Cappa Bleu gets in to the National off a nice racing weight of 10st10 and is towards the top of Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings for the race – on 177+ (Gold Cup winner Synchronised is off 179 to put that figure in to perspective).

Trainer Evan Williams is a shrewd operator and knows what it takes to get a horse cherry-ripe for the National having brought State of Play back for a place 3 years on spin and thus one would expect Cappa Bleu to be spot on for Aintree.

Also going in Cappa Bleu’s favour is his Irish breeding, which is generally a good indicator of a strong Grand National contender.

With Bet365 having now gone Non-Runner No Bet for the National (Cappa Bleu 16/1) and just 59 horses left in for a race with 40 slots, now is the time to be nailing your colours to the mast for the world’s greatest steeplechase and still generally available at 20/1 with support coming in from some of racing’s greatest minds (and me) Cappa Bleu is a confident ante-post selection for the 2012 renewal of the Grand National.