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Fairyhouse
Irish Grand National 2025: Preview, trends, best bet and a 33/1 outsider to follow
The €500,000 Irish Grand National is upon us as Fairyhouse‘s biggest race of the season takes place on Monday. A field of 30 has been declared and we’ve got you covered. Here is our preview of the big race, which includes key trends, our best bet and a 33/1 outsider to follow. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
Preview
Staying chase specialist Gavin Cromwell’s Now Is The Hour is vying for favouritism with Rebecca Curtis’ Haiti Couleurs and it’s easy to see why. The latter won the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham when last seen and the former was running a huge race before falling. Novices have a good recent record and both have a nice weight.
British raider Johnnywho is also of interest, as he came very close to winning the Kim Muir last time out and his narrow victor Daily Present is worth keeping an eye on too. Jockey bookings suggest that Willie Mullins’ most likely winner is the 148-rated Quai De Bourbon, as Paul Townend has picked him.
Don’t discount Mullins’ Sa Majeste either, as he was keeping on well behind Daily Present and Johnnywho at Cheltenham. Gavin Cromwell is certainly targeting the race and his five runners all have some sort of chance.
Trends
- Eight of the last nine winners have previously won on a right-handed track
- Those who have run recently tend to thrive, with eight of the last nine winners having run in the last two months.
- Younger horses have a good recent record, as eight of the last nine winners were no older than nine.
- Seven of the last nine winners had won over at least three miles beforehand.
- Five of the last nine victors had competed in novice chases that season.
Best bet
Better Days Ahead (12/1, bet365) looks like Gordon Elliott’s best chance and the smart novice has plenty in his favour. The rain has come in time and the softer ground brings him right into it. Not far from the top of the tree in novice company this season, he was third in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham and is well worth giving a go over this marathon trip.
Outsider to watch
Search For Glory (33/1, bet365) made a winning start to life over fences at Galway in October, getting the better of Sa Majeste by eight lengths. He’ll need to jump better than he did at Cheltenham but 143 looks like a nice mark and plenty of the trends are in his favour.
If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.
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