Elegant Escape Out of Grand National as Tiger Roll Gamble Continues

The news was revealed on Wednesday that Elegant Escape will not run in the Grand National this season. His trainer Colin Tizzard revealed that he felt the horse has had a very tough race recently in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and that he didn’t believe his horse would recover in time to do himself justice in the big race next month.

This news doesn’t rule Elegant Escape running again this season, although it does sound as though it is more than likely it for him. He is only seven year old, so has another few seasons left in him yet, and he has already had a hard campaign.

There is just three weeks between the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National, and as a horse that take a little time to recover, that is simply not enough for the horse. It has been stressed by the yard that the horse does not have an injury, and this is all about the recovery time before the race, nothing else.

With the news coming out and the continued support in the market, we are now seeing Tiger Roll as short as 7/2 to win the race. If this continues and receives further support on the day, which is highly likely, then there is a chance he threatens the 100 year record held by Poethyln, who is the shortest priced winner of the race at 11/4.

I don’t think we will quite see Tiger Roll go that short, but the punters are latching onto him now and when the day comes, he is a likeable horse for the public to bet on. Not only does he come here as the winner from last season, which people will remember, but he also has a popular name for people to back, and all of this will only put more and more money on him, shortening his price.

Something else that could move the price of Tiger Roll is when the participation of Anibale Fly is determined. He also ran in the Gold Cup like Elegant Escape, but that was just his third race of the season, and he should be fresh enough because of that. He did the same last year, finishing fourth behind Tiger Roll in the national of 2018.

The handicapper has reacted positively to the run we saw from Anibale Fly in the Gold Cup, which is no surprise considering how well he stayed on to grab second up the run in. He is technically 8lb well in on his run from the Gold Cup, which certainly puts him up there with some of the best handicapped horses in the race. The test of the Gold Cup is not quite enough for him, and over the longer distance that he will face here, he should have enough in the locker to really trouble Tiger Roll on the day.