AINTREE in December can be a wild and windswept place, as I have experienced at first hand, and last Saturday’s meeting was not for the faint-hearted, either on the course or in the stands. The ground started heavy and deteriorated as the day wore on, though these things are all relative as Cork showed the day after.

One horse who most definitely does not shirk the issue when the going gets tough is Blaklion, small in stature but big in attitude. He might have won the Grand National at this course earlier this year (finished fourth) but for being sent for home prematurely under fairly testing conditions.