BLACK APALACHI GRAND NATIONAL BETTING TIPS

If you're looking for the pick of the Irish horses for the 2009 Grand National at Aintree, surely your best pick is the venerable Black Apalachi out of the Hughes camp. This ten year-old wasn't involved anywhere at Cheltenham, but does bring some fairly solid February form to the Grand National table. He finished a disappointing fifth to Dashing George in the Jim Ryan Racecourse Services Handicap Hurdle. However, he put together a distinctly emphatic victory over Snowy Morning at Fairyhouse on the 21st of February. He was weighted well for that one and overcame Snowy, the favourite, easily. Black Apalachi has been on the racing scene since 2004 and has recorded some solid victories over good opponents. Clearly never good enough to be consistently competitive in graded races, he has recorded grade 2 victories in the past and would have been in the hunt for last year's Grand National when he fell at the second hurdle when amongst the leaders. Many punters think he's got Comply or Die's number on this course this year and they'll be hoping that the Aintree course doesn't get the best of him. BLACK APALACHI BETTING TIPSSeveral observers have noted that Black Apalachi traditionally is at his finest when there's soft ground underfoot. I know several people who have a keen interest in Black Apalachi but are waiting until the race gets a bit closer so that they can have at least a general idea about the weather and ground conditions before placing any substantial bets on him. I'm confident that he will be weighted fairly well for this race and should be amongst the favourites as we get closer to post time. He has beaten big runners before and, again, looked like he had a shot at the big time before it all fell apart last year on the second hurdle at Aintree. With odds currently in the region of 13.5, you know that this horse's odds will shorten as the race draws nearer, so I would suggest getting in for a small sum now and then doubling up if we've got soft ground heading into April 4th.