Why you have to look beyond Cheltenham to find the best clues for Aintree

While many eyes may be fixed on the Grand National on Saturday, the festival at Aintree built around the race has become one of the major fixtures of the British jumps season. The build-up to these races tends to be overshadowed by the Cheltenham Festival, which comes only three to four weeks earlier, meaning that the analysis of Aintree races tends to be put through the prism of Cheltenham.

Naturally, Cheltenham is important but it is only part of the ecosystem. Plenty of horses are aimed at Aintree specifically.

As with Cheltenham and last week's Scottish Grand National at Ayr, I have taken all races at Aintree this week and cross-referenced them against the most recent runnings of a total of 324 races in Britain and Ireland. This process has highlighted a number of races which could be deemed good indicators for those at the Grand National festival and these strong trials mix the expected with some pretty telling surprises.