WE have an early Easter this year which means the Irish Grand National is run before Aintree, though such timing is hardly unusual with Fairyhouse starting before April 4th four times since 2015.

As with most National Hunt festivals, Willie Mullins has been the trainer to follow at the Easter Festival, winning 28% of all races at the fixture since 2015. In that period, he is 62 runners from 363 runners for a 17.3% strikerate and his runners over fences have been most profitable to follow with 22 winners from 106 runners for a level stakes profit of 16.3 points.