The biggest week of the horse racing calendar is upon us, with plenty of stories to be written and drama to be had, and this year could provide us with a very special piece of history if a couple of prospective Grand National horses come out on top.
In most years, Grand National hopefuls warm up for Aintree by taking on the unique undulating course known as Cheltenham Festival’s Cross Country Chase. Delta Work will do so again this year, but for Noble Yeats and Hewick their ambitions stretch to the Gold Cup.
Completing the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National double is an incredibly rare feat, achieved only twice. Golden Miller is still the only horse to win both races in the same year, way back in 1934, while L’Escargot also wrote his name into the record books as a dual winner when he won the National in 1975.
Noble Yeats is already halfway towards joining those two legends in racing folklore, having won the Grand National last year. He has gone on to impress this season too, winning both the M.W. Hickey Memorial and Many Clouds Chase, before going well in January’s Cotswold Chase.
He currently sits at fourth favourite for the Gold Cup, and should certainly not be discounted, particularly when we remember his odds when coming home first in the 2022 Grand National were 50/1.
