This means that more is a slogan encouraged in Liverpool not so long ago. It was created about one of the football teams in this city, but it corresponds beautifully with the Grand National Randox.
The race never stops. We are spoiled with the Cheltenham festival, Royal Ascot and all these historic classics, but the one everyone wants to win, whether you are a champion coach like Willie Mullins or a bettor once a year, is the extravagance of Aintree. This is why it means more.
Yes, the Grand National has been under the microscope in recent years. I was a lot of interviewed on this subject in the preparation of this festival, which continues to grow up force and to face the people who told me that it is not the race that it was.
It is certainly not the event that I grew up by worshiping, with fences that seemed as large as the mountains, but it cannot be this breed. He had to modernize, especially after the race in 2023 when, for the first time in my life, I felt uncomfortable.
Many will tell you that the renewal of 2024 was too comfortable to watch, but allow me to say another way: when the terrain switched to the house and that there were a dozen horses in the process, do you think that those who connect as an annual tradition were worried how many Mullins runners?
The vast majority of people inside Aintree, or the huge audience who look at home, will not care about 16 hours the size of the fences or if an owner has a handful of runners. They just want to see their horse winning and enjoying the show.
The only race that everyone wants to win is the great national because it means more
A victory for Idas Boy (above) would be the fabric of dreams, but there are also incredible stories behind many other runners
The winner of last year, I am Maximus has a convincing pretension to win but nothing is a guarantee
This event remains a national treasure. Our audience on ITV will be at least three times larger than we arrive at Cheltenham Gold Cup Day and I will chat with anyone, anywhere, that it remains the 10 minutes of the most exciting sport you can see.
So who wins him? The winner of last year, I am Maximus, the extremely convincing claims. Sir Anthony McCoy, my colleague, spoke with an increasing sweetness towards him and he is visible how Mullins, his trainer, swollen his chest.
If you think that the fact that I am Maximus was supported in favoritism makes this intrigue predictable, think again. Nothing in the race is predictable. You saw this last month in Cheltenham and you saw it on Thursday when Constitution Hill hit the ground again.
Believe me, finding the winner is more difficult than ever. Come back 20 years and you could immediately exclude half the field, but this year you would do well to exclude half a dozen 34 runners. This is a chic race, full of winners and quality.
The man with the key to all of this is Gavin Cromwell, the coach of the season. My admiration for him is enormous and he seeks to join a limited group which won the Gold Cup and Grand National the same year after Inteheuxthinkin was clearly in Cheltenham last month.
Cromwell could have run in Lawayurthinkin but instead of Saddles Three: Stomptown, Vanillier and My Fancy, Legalian Perceval, who was targeted on the Grand National since he won impressively to Leopardstown at Christmas.
Vibrations are strong for him and you can be sure he will be in the mixture. A daring show by Vanillier, who comes to Aintree in the form of his life, is not out of the question. He was second two years ago before disappointing 12 months ago, but he ran well in Cheltenham last month.
Gavin Cromwell holds the key with three runners: Legallois Perceval, Stomptown and Vanillier
Ed Chamberlin explains why the Grand National is a British treasure
We got used to the Irish stables winning our biggest races – it is a decade that an English coach has won the National – but the home defense this year is stronger than it has been for some time, with Kandoo Kid with the way to Paul Nicholls.
Nicky Henderson directs Hyland, a gray horse that will love the sound under the conditions, and tries to ignore its incredible training career by ending a sterile race of 46 years in the National. After all that happened with Constitution Hill, no one would regret him to change luck.
Another fabulous story would be the coach Richard Phillips and the owner John Rosbotham winning with Idas Boy: they have dreamed of this possibility for the junior school 55 years ago and the celebrations would be wild if this plan was detached.
I am like you, I would like to support the winner. But I will not mind that the horses that I have supported come anywhere if we get a romance. The only thing the national needs is romance, the dream that anyone can win the race of people. At 4:10 p.m., I hope I tell an incredible story.
Ed Chamberlin is an ambassador of Skybet Uk