Jockey Tom Scudamore has said Cloth Cap is a worthy favorite of the Grand National at Aintree next month.
The extremely brilliant and impressive Newbury and Kelso victor, trained by Jonjo O'Neill in Gloucestershire, is as low as 4-1 for the 10 April big horse race.
Victory for Cloth Cap at the event next month would be a record fourth success in the competition for owner Trevor Hemmings.
According to 38-year-old Scudamore, it is a lovely privileged position to be on the favorite for the April Grand National at Aintree.
It is worthy of note that a total of 77 horses are left, after the most recent National entry stage, with the French duo of Easy land and Ajas the notable absentees. About 40 runners are expected to line up on the day, with the lowest-rated horses pruned out.
Cloth Cap was given 10st 5lb when the weights for the handicap were revealed in February, but the nine-year-old horse has since won a National Hunt Racecourse in Kelso, and his National rating is about 14lb lower than his present official mark.
Scudamore said, "He's been a tremendous ride who's going from strength to strength and is a worthy favorite”.
"It's up to the bookmakers to decide what is a fair price and what isn't but I'm hoping that come that Saturday evening, he'll be looking like he was a massive price."
It is worthy to note that Scudamore’s grandfather Michael landed the race back in the year 1959 on Oxo The owner of Preston North End FC, Hemmings, has in the past, won the National, riding with Hedgehunter in 2005, with Ballabriggsin 2011, and Many Clouds in 2015, with their NAP for today is proving to be tempting for the punters recently.
Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse, Tiger Roll, is the 4-1 favorite and was the shortest-priced victor for 100 years when claiming a second victory in the last running in 2019.
With the 2-time victor absent this year, Cloth Cap is the same odds for the contest next month, which was called off in 2020 and is set to take place in April this year without spectators because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
AJ O'Neill, assistant trainer to his father said, "He's in great form at home and the whole team is very excited, "He's probably entitled to be favorite."
Scudamore also suggests the home side has to buckle up after Irish-trained runners won a total of 23 races at the Cheltenham Festival in March, with just five races for the Great Britain squad. He said, "We well and truly had our backsides tanned and it's up to us to go out and change it.”
"Last week was a lesson to everybody that we have a lot of catching up to do it. It's deeds that matter and we've all got to pull our socks up."
The Irish dominance has been attributed to improved prize money, regular and appropriate race programming, and heavy investment by the owner.
Earlier in the week, Irish handicap trainer, Andrew Shaw, likened horses that are visiting, to English Premier League teams facing Championship clubs.
The 2021 Grand National is billed for April 10, and it’s the 173rd annual running of the Grand National horse race at Aintree Racecourse near the Merseyside City of Liverpool, England.
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