Olly Murphy and Sean Bowen partnership should be celebrated even though festival success has eluded them

Has the Grand National become too predictable? Perhaps. Nick Rockett was the seventh Irish-trained winner in the last nine runnings and gave Willie Mullins back-to-back victories in the race. Next year, need we look any further for the winner than something trained by Mullins? Let's hope so. He's a genius trainer, but the race thrives on the unpredictable, and domination – by a country or a trainer – is not good for it.

The outcome did, however, add intrigue to the trainers' championship, with Willie Mullins now closing on Dan Skelton. Mullins has brought a battalion over for Ayr's Scottish National meeting and this has added a fascinating new dimension to the closing weeks of the jumps season.

However, it's interesting to note that if the title were decided by strike-rate both Mullins and Skelton would be lagging behind Olly Murphy, and his excellent return of 126 winners from 521 runners before racing on Friday is down in no small part to the riding prowess of Sean Bowen, who is about to become champion jump jockey for the first time.