The Grand National has changed for the better - and how anyone can moan about Saturday’s race is beyond me

A phone call from home reinforced everything I thought about the 176th Randox Grand National.

The long drive south began at 8pm. As in every other year, my husband told me to pop into a services for food before favoured places closed and, while doing so, sought to dissuade me of my rather silly conviction that when seeking to carry out a one-stop strategy, that stop does not necessarily have to come beyond the journey's halfway point.

Without seeking to devalue his good advice, it was the very first thing he said that made the biggest impact.