THE Cheltenham Festival is the undoubted highlight of the jump racing year but the Grand National Meeting at Aintree can run it close and it may even have surpassed it this year in terms of standout performances on the clock.

It is difficult to determine the exact value in time terms of the Crabbie’s Grand National itself, as it is the only race over the course on the day, and one of only three over the entire meeting but we do have past Grand Nationals with which to compare it on a by-obstacle basis.