ANXIOUS eyes were last night being east towards an ominously looking sky over Aintree as the elements threaten to turn picking the Martell Grand National winner into even more of a lottery than usual. Many of the trainers of the leading market fancies are silently praying for the heavens to open and soften ground that is currently good.
None more so than Arthur Moore whose Wylde Hide ran well on good going last year until unseating his jockey at the Canal Turn but whose best form is all on the soft.
"This has been his target since last year and we've had a good preparation but any rain that falls would be a help," said Moore.
The Naas trainer also has Feathered Gale and Back Bar in the race and in contrast to Wylde Hide, Feathered Gale would prefer a sound surface but it's hard to escape the feeling that if Moore or indeed the Irish are to win this National then it will be with Wylde Hide.
Of course many of the main English fancies such as Suny Bay and Lo Stregone are also in the same boat but if the ground stays as it currently is then it could pay to chase the long prices and row along with the 33 to 1 shot Dextra Dove.
Former jockey Simon Earle is in only his second season training but his handling of the easily recognisable grey has been admirable and on fast going Dextra Dove looks to be overpriced. The horse had won 19 races but it's his third last run when he won the Agfa Chase at Sandown that puts him right into the reckoning.
Go Ballistic and Avro Anson both lost their riders in that race but Earle insists that Dextra Dove had Go Ballistic beaten when he fell and that horse is a third of Dextra Dove's price.
The question marks about this often quirky, stubborn character centre on his last two races when he didn't perform at all but Earle yesterday reported valid excuses for him.
"I hadn't given him enough work for his race after Sandown and he is a stuffy horse and after he didn't jump well in the Racing Post Chase we found he had a shoulder problem. Now though I can say that I've never had him better.
"I had him out on the track thin morning and where normally he'd asleep, this time he was jig jogging around taking everything in. I'm sure the big day will brighten him up in his attitude even more. He schooled brilliantly over a National fence I built and I have to say I'm reasonably confident that he can win," said Earle.
Many other trainers can say the same thing in a race where it doesn't pay to be too dogmatic but few of them are as attractively priced as Dextra Dove.
The form of Lord Gyllene's eight length defeat of Mudahim at Uttoxeter in February now looks even better and this guaranteed stayer should be in the firing line at the finish.
Avro Anson has quietly forced himself to the front of the market but his jumping has been questioned in the past while Go Ballistic's inexperience could just find him out.
