THE time for talking Tiger turkey is over.
It was all good fun – like it usually is with Ryanair boss and powerful racehorse owner Michael O’Leary – on the run up to the announcement of the Grand National weights.
There was always going to be a bit of ‘game show’ posturing by the Gigginstown Stud boss as he tried to limit the lead handicapper Martin Greenwood lumped on Tiger Roll.
Top weight cannot come as any surprise for the first dual National hero since peerless Aintree legend Red Rum.
Some might argue giving four pounds to the 2018 Gold Cup winner Native River is unfair in his quest for a third win in the world’s greatest race. Others could point out Tiger Roll’s record over the unique fences made that sort of concession to top-class horses inevitable.
Those arguments will only be resolved on April 4. And, for the sake of Aintree, the Grand National and horseracing in general, they must be resolved on that date. Tiger Roll simply must run.
Of course, he needs to come through his comeback from injury at Navan this weekend and then a probably attempt to win an incredible fifth Cheltenham Festival prize in the cross country chase.
Those are stepping stones he’s navigated before so it would do no harm, and plenty of good, to make their National intentions clear at this stage.
For O’Leary’s racing manager brother Eddie to trot out the usual lines saying Tiger Roll is only 50-50 – or evens in betting terms – to make the race is fair enough before the grand weights lunch in Liverpool city centre.
But once the gravy – that is poured thick when the train hits top speed for the owners, trainers, members of the media and any hangers-on lucky enough to get an invite to the thirsty affair – has run out, it’s time for action. Time for certainty. Time to build this year’s National up to what it is – the greatest Aintree event since Red Rum completed his treble 43 years ago.
The National has been superbly marshalled by track chiefs through some choppy waters since Rummy coasted home by 25 lengths with Tommy Stack punching the air.
Aintree’s world famous course could have disappeared under thousands of houses in the 70s and the threat from animal welfare protestors has seen the fearsome fences modified to help minimise the risk of injuries.
Not even a bomb scare could stop the rise of the Grand National to return it to where it should be. Instead of bowing to terrorists in 1997, everyone just came back two days later.
Now, Aintree stands as one of the most impressive racecourses in the land without losing any of its history or any of its intrigue. It's still the greatest test of horse and rider on these shores and still the most incredibly special race.
It’s a prize O’Leary has won three times in the last four years. There’s no doubt the controversial Irishman has put a hell of a lot into jump racing over the past 15 years. Equally, and deservedly, he has got a lot out.
Now it is his duty to give racing what it needs – a Grand National on every front page, on every news bulletin.
The build up to the great race would surely capture the imagination of the public – the men and women on the street that have perhaps been unable to find much time to slot the National into their busy lives – like no other recent race.
The PR experts are waiting to work their magic. They just need to hear O’Leary mutter the magic words “he runs”.
Trainer Gordon Elliott, the man who knows him best, sees no reason to swerve a tilt at history.
After hearing the news that Tiger Roll had been handed top weight, he said: “If it’s left to me he’ll run. He’s a household name and it’s the most famous race in the world.”
The same words need to be heard from O’Leary’s well-used tongue and now. Racing needs it and Aintree deserves it.
