RAMBLING MINSTER GRAND NATIONAL BETTING TIPS

Approaching the 2009 Grand National with two excellent wins already under his belt for the year, Rambling Minster has rapidly become a top contender to win the penultimate event of the National Hunt season. While Rambling Minster may not be a member of a first-rate yard or boast one of Britain's finest pedigrees, this horse certainly knows how to win a race against decent competition and we saw evidence of this on New Years Day at Cheltenham where he bested Alexanderthegreat in a very interesting handicap. His victory in February at the Blue Square Gold Cup provided further evidence that this an extremely sharp horse who knows how to hold onto a lead going into the final 100 yards. His quality in graded races is hard to argue with. Rambling Minster was without a victory for the whole of 2008, but appears to be coming into form at exactly the right time. 11 years old and possessing a record of 13 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place finishes out of 32 lifetime starts makes him decent value for money. RAMBLING MINSTER BETTING TIPSIf you're considering backing Rambling Minster for the 2009 John Smith's Grand National, you should be convinced that a form horse is going to take this one. Coming in off the back of two wins in a row makes for some good news on the racecard, but even in his two recent victories (the previous one was back in late 07) he didn't finish particularly emphatically and was clinging to the lead as he hit the finish line. Essentially, his wins could have been more convincing. Currently, he is listed in the neighbourhood of 16.5 which makes him solid value in my book. I will be very interested to see a form report once he gets out for a gallop before the actual race itself, but in terms of the ante-post market I feel as though there's enough value to make a move on Rambling Minster. If he can get out towards the front heading into the middle section of the race, I think he could be a very good bet to secure a career-defining victory.