SO it looks like the announcement of the weights for the Aintree Grand National, to be run for the first time this year under the Randox Health banner, is going to be accompanied by more razzamatazz than usual this year.

It is not a bad thing in one sense. It is the most famous jumps race in the world, and it is no harm that it gets a run out in February, before the Cheltenham build-up goes frenetic, so that people can be reminded that the world/season does not end with the Grand Annual.

That said, it is not with bated breath that the actual National weights are awaited.Not any more. Not in this era of transparency and handicap ratings. There are the tweaks, of course, the oft-maligned Aintree factor tweaks, and the oft-heralded slight compression of the weights at the top end of the handicap, and the few extra pounds that one or two horses get in order to increase their chances of getting a run.

(What about the horses that they displace if they do?) But, in truth, we know exactly what weight the vast majority of runners will carry before the unveiling ceremony, and we have a fair idea of what weight the others will carry.We just need to know how closely the Irish horses’ National weights correlate to their Irish handicap ratings. Same as every other handicap chase run in Britain then.