Prize fund boost for Aintree

The 2016 Crabbie's Grand National Festival at Aintree will be the richest ever with close to £3 million in prize money on offer over the three-day meeting, which runs from Thursday, April 7 to Saturday, April 9.

On Grand Opening Day, Thursday, April 7, the Grade One Manifesto Novices' Chase is boosted to £100,000 (from £90,000), while the Grade Three Red Rum Handicap Chase also rises to the same level, having been run for £80,000 in 2015. The Grade Two Goffs Nickel Coin Mares' jumps to £40,000 (from £30,000 in 2015).

Both Grade One novices' races on Ladies Day, Friday, April 8 have risen in value with the Top Novices' Hurdle up to £75,000 (from £60,000) and the Betfred Mildmay Novices' Chase now standing at £100,000 (up from £90,000). Ladies Day comes to a close with the Grade Two Weatherbys Champion Bumper, which is boosted to £40,000 (£30,000 in 2015).

The biggest increase comes in the Grade One Liverpool Hurdle on Grand National Day, Saturday, April 9, which now boasts a total prize fund of £150,000 (up from £120,000 in 2015) with the concluding race of the meeting, the Pinsent Masons Handicap Hurdle, another to receive a very significant increase at £50,000 (from £40,000).

There are 11 Grade One races staged during the Crabbie's Grand National Festival, four on Grand Opening Day, the same number on Ladies Day and three on Grand National Day.

The Crabbie's Grand National itself remains by far the richest Jump race run anywhere in Europe, with a prize fund of £1 million.

Andrew Tulloch, Jockey Club Racecourses' Regional Head of Racing for the North West and Clerk of the Course at Aintree, said: "We continually strive to offer the very best in Jump racing over the three days of the Crabbie's Grand National Festival and are pleased to be able to offer prize money increases for over a third of the races in 2016.

"The 2016 Crabbie's Grand National Festival will be the richest ever, with prize money of £2.9 million.

"All three of the Grade One novices' chases are now worth £100,000, while there is no race on offer with a total prize fund of less than £40,000.

"The Grade One Liverpool Hurdle is a race that has really grown over the last decade, particularly since it was upgraded to Grade One status in 2010. In 2009, it was a Grade Two and worth £100,000, while this year the prize money has risen to a record £150,000."

Weights unveiled on Tuesday

Weights for the Crabbie's Grand National will be unveiled at the Sky Garden in the heart of London on Tuesday, February 16. The Crabbie's Grand National is the only handicap of the year where the British Horseracing Authority's Head of Handicapping, Phil Smith, has absolute discretion to deviate from the normal handicap ratings when framing the weights.

Shotgun Paddy will test his Aintree credentials in the Betfred Eider Chase over an extended four miles at Newcastle on February 27.

Trained by Emma Lavelle, the nine-year-old has been a standing dish in staying contests since capturing the Grade Three Betfred Classic Chase at Warwick in January, 2014. He went down by a neck in that year's four-mile National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and was last seen out when third to Mountainous in the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on January 9.

Lavelle, who is based in near Andover in Hampshire, said: "Shotgun Paddy has come out of the Welsh National in great order and will go for the Eider at the end of the month.

"I suppose Newcastle will tell us whether we should be seriously considering Aintree or looking at something else.

"He has had two really good runs this year, but the problem with running as consistently as he does is that he gets no respite from the handicapper. It is very hard to win these valuable handicaps, especially when you have a big weight all the time.

"He will have under 11st for the first time in a handicap if he gets to Aintree, which is interesting, but he would need ground on the soft side. They would leave him behind otherwise."