1. Early clues: If you were looking for early clues for the 2015 Aintree Grand National, the two to take out of last Saturday’s Becher Chase were probably Mendip Express and Saint Are. But there are caveats.

Mendip Express ran a fine race to finish second to the evergreen Oscar Time. He was held up in the early stages in a race in which it was probably an advantage to race handily. He jumped the big fences well on his first attempt at them, he made his ground nicely on the run down the side of the track, and he was the one who presented the greatest challenge to the winner, staying on well and going down by just three-parts of a length in the end.