The last three runnings of the Grand National have gone to Irish or Scottish raiders. It's a race everyone wants to win and an English-trained winner will have their work cut out for them at Aintree near Liverpool this year.

With the prospect of up to half the 2019 Grand National field being from the Emerald Isle, the world-famous National Hunt horse on Saturday, April 6 promises to be fascinating. Who are the leading English-trained contenders for this ultimate test of thoroughbred and jockey?

Elegant Escape

Colin Tizzard could aim his young improver Elegant Escape at the Grand National. The seven-year-old is bidding to become the first of that age to win the world's most famous steeplechase since 1940.

Stats are there to be defied, however, and Elegant Escape had sufficient stamina to win the Welsh Grand National at Christmastime. The Aintree race is over three-quarters of a mile further than that event, but there are no doubts about his staying credentials.

Bookmakers like Paddy Power already have Grand National runners odds and Elegant Escape is towards the head of their betting market. As he's open to much more progress, this horse is the leading English-trained contender for Aintree.

Read more: Four Leading English-Trained Contenders for 2019 Grand National

In the UK, no other racing event is more popular than the Grand National. Its first race was run in the year 1839, so it can rightly boast of a very long history. It is also the most valuable jump race in Europe. The prize fund of the 2017 Grand National was £1 million.

The Grand National will be held this year at Aintree Racecourse in April. The mega racing event is not far, so you better start making your preparations, especially if you are a punter. You can bet on the Grand National by using the freebets site which ensures that you enjoy the best betting experience by giving you all the best free bets and offers. You can also enjoy all the best betting tips and news updates at the site.

So enjoy all the best offers of Paddy Power, Coral, Bet365, Betfred and Betfair. With Bet365, you can get up to £100 in bet credits. Coral has come up with the special Grand National offer of Bet £5 Get £5. While with Paddy Power, you can get your hands on £40 free bets offer. Check all the offers and then choose the one that suits your needs the best.

1- Aldaniti (1981 Grand National winner)

The success story of Aldaniti is hugely inspirational. He established himself as a top steeplechaser in the 1978-79 season. He finished third in that season's Cheltenham Gold Cup while grabbing the second position in the Scottish Grand National. Unfortunately, he suffered a serious injury in November 1979 that threatened to end his racing career.

Read more: Top Grand National Winners

Paisley Park has come a long way since his failure at Cheltenham Festival last season, developing into one of the most talented horses in the National Hunt in the 2018/19 campaign. Emma Lavelle’s charge was an outside candidate for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, and although he was not expected to mount a challenge for the crown, the bay gelding finished 13th in a field of 20.

The Irish-bred horse has bounced back with a vengeance with a sublime run of form this term, reeling off four victories on the bounce. Paisley’s Park form has seen him installed as one of the leading Cheltenham tips to take the Stayers’ Hurdle title in March. The seven-year-old has put forward dominant performances over the last six months and it would be no surprise to see him in the winners’ enclosure at the end of the meet.

Paisley Park was a long way from the horse that would be considered a Cheltenham favorite last season. He only had one victory under his belt in four races before entering the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle. At +3300, the bay gelding was an outsider, but as the race would prove, perceptions before the action can count for very little. Whereas Lavelle’s charge failed to make an impression in the contest, his compatriot Kilbricken Storm – valued at the same price before the meet - was outstanding and won the event by three lengths ahead of his nearest rival.

Read more: Paisley Park On Track For Cheltenham Success

Irish trained National Hunt horses winning at the Cheltenham Festival has been a predominant theme over the last three years.

Emerald Isle raiders have gone in time and again at the four-day jumps horse racing spectacular at Prestbury Park of late, so who are some of the leading Irish hopes for the 2019 Cheltenham Festival?

Apple’s Jade

Mares don’t come any tougher than the Gigginstown House Stud owned, Gordon Elliott trained Apple’s Jade. She’s still only a six-year-old, but recently recorded a third consecutive success in the Grade 1 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle over 2m 4f at the Fairyhouse Winter Festival.

While it’s perfectly common for Apple’s Jade to take on the geldings at the highest level throughout her campaign, connections have preferred to race her against her own sex come the Cheltenham Festival. It’s for that reason that she is a best-price 2/1 ante post favourite to regain the Mares’ Hurdle title with BetVictor and reverse last year’s form with Benie Des Dieux.

Read more: 5 Leading Irish Hopes for 2019 Cheltenham Festival

by Bob Ehalt

Rivalries are on the verge of becoming passé these days.

With shorter careers and horses receiving more time off between races, the best horses are squaring off much less frequently than decades ago.

In fact, one of the most heated rivalries since the turn of the century involved Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra – and they never raced against each other.

The situation was markedly different, of course, 40 or 50 years ago, especially in 1967 and 1968 when Damascus was at the center of battles between three of the best horses of the last 60 years.

Owned by Edith Bancroft and trained by Frank Y. Whiteley Jr., Damascus squared off with Dr. Fager and Buckpasser in a few of that era’s most famous races and he won two of the meetings – which was not unusual for him. In 32 career starts, Damascus won 21 times and finished second seven times, earning $1,176,781, numbers that justify his induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga in 1974.

Read more: Damascus: An Unforgettable Champion

The Geelong and Melbourne Cup races have been completed, with two of Australia's most interesting horse races having been contested. Runaway took the win from the Geelong Cup, while Cross Counter got the job done in the Melbourne Cup. Those results made for the seventh straight year where the winner of the Geelong and Melbourne Cup were different horses, begging the question of whether or not the winner of those two races will be the same within the same year ever again.

As a bit of background, only three horses in the history of the sport have managed to win both the Geelong and Melbourne Cup within the same year. Media Puzzle was the first horse to pull off the feat by doing so in 2002 and was followed by Americain in 2010 and Dunaden in 2011. Dunaden had an even more special run, as the horse managed to take home the Geelong Cup, Melbourne Cup, and Hong Kong Vase within the same year. Runaway got the job done in Geelong, but couldn't pull off the double.

Needless to say, winning both of these races is rare, but just how rare is really put into perspective when you consider how long both of those races have been run. The Melbourne Cup was first run in its earliest form in 1861, while the Geelong Cup was first run in 1872. That means that there has been nearly a century and a half worth of these races, with only three horses managing to win both of them in the same year, making it one of the sport's truly unique accomplishments.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle separating horses from pulling off this accomplishment is that horse racing as a whole has become more specialized. The sport is so full of horses, trainers, and programs that unless a horse is special, it isn't always likely that it will be able to make the jump from a G3 race like the Geelong Cup up to a G1 race like the Melbourne Cup. Either a horse isn't good enough to go from the G3 to the G1, or it is too good to want to take the step down from the G1 to the G3. There are surely some exceptions, as evidenced by the three horses who did the double, but even seeing horses who compete in both races isn't a given each year.

Read more: Will the Geelong-Melbourne Cup Double Be Repeated?

Louisville, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2018) – Online voting is now open for the ninth annual Secretariat Vox Populi Award. Created by Secretariat's late owner Penny Chenery, the Vox Populi, or “Voice of the People,” Award recognizes the racehorse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the public and gained recognition for the sport during the past year.

Fans can vote in the online poll, which can be found at Secretariat.com, for one of five nominees selected by the Vox Populi Committee this year. Voters also have the option to write in a racehorse of their choice. The poll is open through Nov. 30, and a public presentation to the 2018 Vox Populi winner is planned for Jan. 12, 2019 at Santa Anita Park.

This year’s world-class nominees present voters with a distinct international flavor:

Read more: Justify, Enable Among Finalists for Secretariat Vox Populi Award

What is a Bleeder?

To most people a “bleeder” is a horse that has blood at the nostrils during or after training or racing.

All Horses are Bleeders!

However, research has shown that if horses are ‘scoped (the process of placing a thin tube with a camera inside the windpipe) after galloping or racing, between 40-80% of horses will have some blood visible in the windpipe, but not at the nostrils. That is, you would not know the horse had bled unless you ‘scoped it. If you ‘scope any horse on three different occasions after galloping it will have blood in the windpipe on at least one occasion. If we look even deeper into the lung we know that all horses break blood vessels.

Horses Do Not Have to Gallop to Bleed.

Research in Japan showed that horses that only cantered at speeds of up to 20 mph (a very slow canter for a racehorse) all had damage to their lungs as a result of broken blood vessels

Read more: Benefits of Using FLAIR® Nasal Strips in Training Racehorses

As the final few major fixtures of the flat calendar expire horse racing enthusiasts turn their attention to the longer distances where the brave go over hurdles on testing ground and in freezing conditions. National Hunt competitors are made of stern stuff, but the prizes are well worth the winning.

A fine example of this can be found on Saturday 17th November at Cheltenham, where the Gold Cup is decided over 2m 4f on the Old Course. A history stretching back almost six decades, followers have witnessed some memorable renewals, including Bradbury Star’s doubleheader in 1993/94.

A Grade 3 contest on an important week for racing, the stands will be packed for what the ante-post horse racing betting tells us will be a fascinating instalment. But, who will reign supreme on the day and grab themselves a slice of sporting history? Bookmakers have had their say, and they’re stuck on the fence.

Read more: Mister Whittaker Favourite in Wide-Open Gold Cup at Cheltenham