'A brave, strong stayer with a touch of class is all you need in the National'

I was fortunate enough to win the Grand National on Pineau De Re and must have done something right as Many Clouds won it for me 12 months later, and the first thing I'd say is you need a strong stayer, but also a very brave horse.

People talk about the fences not being what they were and they're certainly easier, but there are still a lot of them and you end up going quicker now, so you have to stay. There's more of an end-to-end gallop than there ever used to be and a good start and being able to hold a reasonable position is crucial.

You want a horse trained for the race getting there in peak condition, but both of my lads ran at Cheltenham the month before so running at the festival isn't a negative and, in Pineau De Re's case, we took great confidence from his run.