SATURDAY’S Grand National Trial at Haydock was a tale of two lions of different colours: a black one, or a blak one, and an old red one. Vieux Lion Rouge and Blaklion scrapped it out up the home straight, they had it between them from the third last fence and the pair of them came clear of their rivals and clocked a fast time.

Winners of the Haydock Grand National Trial have a poor record in the National, but beaten horses have not fared so badly. The most recent representative from the race to go on and win the National is Neptune Collonges, beaten a neck by Giles Cross at Haydock in 2006 before going on to beat Sunnyhillboy by a nose at Aintree. In so doing, he confounded the weight stat (first winner to carry 11st 6lb or more since Red Rum in 1977) and the French-bred stat. Well, maybe not the French-bred stat. Mon Mome had already seen to that three years earlier.