My Will ~ 2010 Grand National Runner
The photo above shows jockey Ruby Walsh on board Grand National 2009 third placed horse My Will
Despite all the rhetoric about French horses not doing well in the Aintree Grand National, and usually they don't, 2009 saw three of them finish in the top 5 spots and My Will, ridden by Ruby Walsh came very close to stealing the thunder from Mon Mome but ultimately ended up in third place.
At nine years old, prior to the 2009 National, he had placed in eighteen of his twenty seven chase starts, making him a reasonably solid each-way bet. He had fallen only once and while the Aintree National fences are unforgiving, he was already set up well. At 11lbs 4 his weight for the big race wasn't the lowest but it was still a good handicap and may have given a light edge over the heavier horses in the race.
Add in the facts that he is trained by Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls and jockey Ruby Walsh chose to ride him and you can see why he was so heavily favoured as a potential winner. And while third place is nothing to be sniffed at, Ruby Walsh admitted afterwards that four of five mistakes cost him valuable impetus.
Age
Generally we recommend horses who are 9 or 10 years old and My Will will turn 10 years old a couple of weeks before the Grand National 2010 giving him the ideal age for a winner.
Stamina
Considering that he finished in third place for the 2009 Grand National we know that he has bundles of stamina that can easily take him around the course again.
Weight
He carried 11-4 last year and though that falls short of the ideal weight I can't see it being any lower this year especially with last year's performance still fresh in the mind. He may handicapped even higher this year, reducing his chances slightly.
Season So Far
He has only run one race since the 2009 Grand National and that was in November 2009 where he finshed a respectable 2nd after The Listener at Down Royal. Two interesting things to note here, firstly he carried 11-10 (but so did all the others horses), it was a 3 miler, again re-emphasising the stamina and the going was soft, meaning he has great flexibility despite weather conditions!
I think if Ruby Walsh decides to ride him again, corrects the mistakes the made last year and My Will gets a couple of run-outs between now and then and doesn't get too heavily handicapped he could be a good bet.
