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Bill Baxter was struggling from an early stage, and his jumping let him down.
He made a lot of mistakes on his way round and was always going to struggle with his position being towards the rear. It's been a tough place to come from the rear of the field, so I was never confident when I saw him lining up.
Grand National 2026 betting offers
Lecky Watson 33/1 – Aintree 4.00
I think it makes the most sense to give a chance to a Willie Mullins outsider for the Grand National. He has that many good horses; any other trainer would love to have a Lecky Watson in their yard, as he would be a flag bearer.
I do firmly believe Lecky Watson has a squeak at a big enough price. We haven't seen him have a great season, with a lot of high-number finishes and a fall, as well as a PU effort. However, as we saw last year, on his day, he is a very good horse.
He won the variant of the RSA at Cheltenham last year over 3m, and he looked like a true stayer. If Willie has managed to get him firing for this race, he is a lively outsider.
I did fancy Spanish Harlem for this race, but his prep has equally been bad. My main reason for giving a chance to Lecky Watson over Spanish Harlem is that he is a previous Grade 1 winner, which shows he has class. He's not carrying a ridiculously low weight, so he needs to have the class to win.
He's way down in terms of the jockey booking for Willie, but Sean has ridden some big-priced winners for Willie in the past, so it's hardly off-putting.
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