'The race has changed dramatically and it's now like any other' - has the modern-day Grand National lost its essence?

The magic of the Randox Grand National needs to be protected, former winners of the race said on Wednesday in response to it once again having an ante-post market dominated by just a handful of trainers. 

Six of the seven contenders shorter than 20-1 for the £1 million race at Aintree on April 5 represent trainers Willie Mullins and Gavin Cromwell or owner JP McManus. The Tom Gibney-trained ante-post favourite Intense Raffles is gatecrasher to the top-heavy dominance, and even then he runs for powerhouse owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.

Kim Bailey, who trained 1990 Grand National winner Mr Frisk, argued that changes to the world-famous contest, watched by a global audience of 600 million, have made it another event for the super yards. 

Longer-priced winners have become rarer, with three of the six favourites or joint-favourites to have won this century coming in the last five runnings, including the Mullins-trained I Am Maximus at 7-1 last April.

Bailey said: "You've a smaller field and much smaller fences, so the good horses run in the race now because their connections are not as worried about the course. The race has changed dramatically from what it was ten years ago and that has meant it has become more like any other race."

The National-winning trainer is in favour of introducing win-and-you're-in races throughout the season to guarantee horses a run. 

"There should be four or five qualifying races which get you in automatically," he said. "If you win the Welsh, Scottish or Irish Grand National, or maybe one or two others like the Peter Marsh, one of your prizes for winning that race should be an automatic run in the National." 

Bailey's words may be prophetic as the issue is being considered already by the BHA.

"It's on the table," said Richard Wayman, the BHA's director of racing. "It's been looked at, it will continue to be looked at – working with the Jockey Club. Ultimately it's their decision, but there are pros and cons and obviously at the moment that hasn't been an avenue that the Jockey Club and Aintree have decided to go down."

Wayman added that the BHA's view was that qualifying races have merit. "I think that creating the link between what goes on during the season and the actual big day itself certainly has some benefits," he added.

"There are negatives. One is that win-and-you’re-in horses get in potentially above a higher-rated horse and that's a principle issue that some people might disagree with. The other issue is that you could end up with a horse getting in who could be some way out of the weights and potentially then you raise some issues there if the horse is effectively outclassed. It's a big leap up into the National." 

Another National-winning trainer, Richard Newland powerfully advocated a limit on the number of runners of any one owner or trainer to three or four. A limit of four is something the BHA explored a year ago, but ultimately shelved saying it would keep the issue "under review". Newland, who won the race with Pineau De Re in 2014, would like the topic to be revisited.

"I still think it's a good idea," he said. "Why can't they put a limit in place? There are three or four really big players and it's killing our sport. Spreading those horses around more yards benefits so many more and makes the sport healthier.

"Julie Harrington [former BHA chief executive] was quite brave and came out after the Cheltenham Festival last year and said there needed to be bold changes, and quickly, to save jump racing. And now she's gone, and I would ask 'what's changed?', because we [Britain] did worse at Cheltenham this year than we did last and, yes, they changed a few races at the festival to handicaps, but that's not bold and it hasn't redressed anything?"

Richard Newland: "Why can't they put a limit in place?"Credit: Edward Whitaker

Sue Smith, who trained 66-1 shot Auroras Encore to win the Grand National in 2013, said competing with the bigger yards was proving a mountain to climb. She said: "We've not got a huge string of horses so we're looking to find one to go to those races and maybe try and steal it, and there are one or two smaller yards having results at Cheltenham – look at the Champion Hurdle – but I don't think you'll get days like that too often anymore.

"We have to keep going. I don't begrudge Willie Mullins what he's doing, he's got some fabulous horses. Gordon [Elliott] is the same and Gavin Cromwell's on the scene now, too, doing a fantastic job. We can't complain, we've just got to try and up our game." 

Dickon White, who runs Aintree Racecourse as north west regional director of The Jockey Club, pointed out that the National continues to attract a huge global audience and that changes made in recent years have resulted in the quality of horses running in the race improving year-on-year.

He said: "The Randox Grand National is the most famous steeplechase in the world and continues to attract a huge global audience.

"We are delighted that changes made in recent years have resulted in the quality of horses running in the race improving year on year and believe this is something to be celebrated.

"The strong contingent of Irish runners competing at Aintree is a huge part of what makes these feature festivals such a wonderful occasion and we believe that most racing fans want to see the best horses taking each other on, regardless of where they were bred or who owns and trains them.

"We carry out a review after every running of the Randox Grand National, which takes into account multiple factors from welfare to competitiveness, and we will continue to do so while also considering a range of feedback from participants and stakeholders."

Randox Grand National (Aintree, April 5)
William Hill: 7 Intense Raffles, 8 Iroko, 10 I Am Maximus, Stumptown, 12 Perceval Legallois, Vanillier, 14 Nick Rockett, 20 bar

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