THE Randox Grand National Festival produced top-class performances that yielded interesting data. The whole meeting is worthy of comparison to Cheltenham in that jockeys were cognisant of conditions and rode accordingly.

At Cheltenham, the Finishing Speed Percentages achieved were consistently above 100% meaning that horses finished their races strongly having been able to conserve energy in the early parts of their races.

It was much the same at Aintree. Seventeen of the 21 races over the three days were won by horses who achieved an FSP above 100%.

Diva Luna achieved the fastest finish in the steadily run Grade 2 Mares’ Bumper on the first day as evidenced by an FSP of 110.76% and the slowest came in the Grade 1 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle where Dancing City finished very slowly recording an FSP of 95.18%.

I will start this week’s analysis with a remarkable performance in the Randox Grand National.

Mighty Maximus

Visually this was an impressive performance by I Am Maximus and the data more than backs up that impression.

When he won the Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse in February, beating Vanillier by 14 lengths, it was commonly perceived that his jumping was a problem in terms of a tilt at the Grand National.

In that race, the Race IQ data showed him to lose 3.56 lengths on the field jumping, but it also highlighted how strongly he finished the race. He ran the final four furlongs 7.77% faster than he ran the previous 21 furlongs.

In so doing, he was the only horse in the race to achieve a sub-15.00secs furlong, and his final four furlongs were 4.13secs quicker than Vanillier.

His Grand National success showed that his finishing effort in the Bobbyjo was not a one off. He powered home, achieving an FSP of 110.50%, the second fastest finish at the meeting and his closing sectionals were impressive.

The surge that took him to the front on the run-in showed him to quicken from a 15.50secs furlong to a 14.45secs furlong and he backed that up with a 14.58secs final furlong. Those two quick splits took him from fifth to first and allowed him to pull seven and a half lengths clear of Delta Work.

His jumping was as at Fairyhouse, he lost 4.33 lengths as he made his way through the race on the inside. Compare this to examples of the tremendous jumping of five of his rivals and it makes his performance more remarkable. Below is a comparison of his lengths gained jumping (LGJ) with those he defeated.

Grand National

Lengths gained jumping

1st: I Am Maximus: - 4.33L

2nd: Delta Work: +2.36L

3rd: Minella Indo: +12.25L

4th: Galvin: +7.07L

5th: Kittys Light: +15.56L

7th: Meetingofthewaters +22.46L

I suspect he will always go about jumping a fence his own way and will never be spectacular, but he has a remarkable turn of foot for a strong stayer and he is one of the best Grand National winners we have seen for many years.

He will be a live contender for the Cheltenham Gold Cup should connections favour that route.

Denied a chance to see him in the Triumph Hurdle Sir Gino put up a performance in the Grade 1 Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle that suggested he would have been hard to beat at Cheltenham. He remains unbeaten in four starts with the promise of more to come.

The race was run at an even tempo with the winner recording an FSP of 103.01%. This means he ran the final four furlongs 3.01% quicker than the previous 13 furlongs.

Sir Gino raced in third before quickening to the front with two sub-15.00secs furlongs. This sustained burst was too much for Kargese in second. Their final three furlongs compared below.

Sir Gino: 14.89secs /14.41s/15.09secs

Kargese: 15.01secs /14.74s /15.73secs

Sir Gino achieved this whilst leaving room for improvement in his jumping. He lost ground at six of the nine hurdles. His cumulative gain of 2.3 lengths in the race was due to a fast accurate leap at the last which is an indication that he has the ability to jump well.

Kargese gained 8.73 lengths through the race yet was still beaten three and a quarter lengths which outlines Sir Ginos superiority on the flat, he simply had too much speed for his rivals.

Is

Jonbon emphatically answered the question as to whether he would stay two and a half miles in the strongly run Grade 1 Melling Chase.

Conflated ensured that there was no hiding place as regards stamina, setting a strong gallop, causing Jonbon to have to dig deep to win by a length and a quarter. The strong pace meant that the four finishers finished tired as evidenced by their FSPs.

1st Jonbon: FSP 96.11%

2nd Conflated: FSP 95.30%

3rd Protektorat: FSP 95.64%

4th Envoi Allen: FSP 91.21%

Jonbon saw the race out better than Conflated, who stays further, and Jonbon may well stay further if asked to step up in trip in something like the King George next season.

A final four furlongs of 64.82secs from Jonbon was 0.61secs faster than Conflated and that combined with a better round of jumping with him gaining 4.17 lengths on the runner-up sealed the deal.

This horse is a very talented, an incredibly talented eight-year-old who adds yet more lustre to a classy three-mile plus chasing group.

Given how poorly he jumped at Cheltenham, his second-place finish in the Gold Cup was a remarkable effort.

In that race he was beaten three and a half lengths yet lost 6.68 lengths jumping. He must have a big engine to have run so well and he confirmed his talent last week.

The Grade 1 William Hill Bowl was run at a modest gallop through the first two and a half miles with Gerri Colombe racing in fourth before accelerating to the lead three furlongs out.

That burst of speed took him through the third last furlong in 14.78secs and the second last in a fast 14.18secs.

Having established a lead with this strong burst of speed, he paid for that effort in the final furlong with the runner-up Ahoy Senor rallying to produce a faster final furlong than the winner.

Gerri Colombe won this by showing greater acceleration than his rivals and as in the Gold Cup, it must be concluded that he could be better than the bare result.

Jump better

Once again, his jumping left plenty to be desired although he did jump better than at Cheltenham. Ahoy Senor was 9.29 lengths better than Gerri Colombe over the 19 fences yet still could not win.

This is testament to the raw ability of Gerri Colombe who is open to improvement if he can brush up his jumping.

His ability to quicken is a rare commodity amongst the staying chasing brigade unless your name is I Am Maximus.