Yes, Becher’s Brook is no longer the fearsome obstacle of black-and-white times but the race still asks questions of horse and rider that are unique to Aintree and the element of luck is still an important factor.

The sound of 40 horses galloping down to the first of 30 fences, like hail hammering off a car bonnet, is the best sound in sport.

Hedgehunter back in 2005 is Closutton’s only previous winner and we run five in a bid to double our tally.

Capodanno is a class horse, a Grade One winner at Punchestown last year, and he doubtless has the scope to be better than his current mark.

Only for his interrupted campaign we would have been thinking Gold Cup rather than Grand National but he met with a setback early this season and has only had the one run this year.

In a race as demanding as this, I think having more miles in the legs in the current season is an advantage and that could catch him out.

Carefully Selected won the Thyestes Chase at Gowran, under yet another inspired Paul Townend masterclass. He is 11 years old but missed two years through injury which means this is just his seventh chase start.

Therefore, he is more unexposed than most horses his age. Yes, he was disappointing last time but that came after a hard race in the Thyestes and he has been freshened up since.

With 11st 1lb, he has a competitive weight. He is an old-fashioned horse, with head and feet like a dinosaur, but the engine is pure racehorse. Don’t forget he was second in the Champion Bumper and he can’t be discounted.

Townend, fresh from a ride for the ages in the Irish Grand National, has chosen Gaillard Du Mesnil. Another Grade One winner, he carries just 11 stone, which shows the class of this race.

He showed he stays well when winning the National Hunt Chase this year and was placed in the Irish Grand National last year too. He is young, has big-field experience, has bags of stamina with a touch of class and is a sound jumper.

With luck in-running, it is easy to see his grey head being involved at the finish line. The one concern is that he had a hard race in Cheltenham and plenty of horses have underperformed since then. I Am Maximus was not one of them though, so it can be done.

Recite A Prayer has continually surprised us in big handicaps and he does have previous experience over the course but I think better ground is the key to him.

Our last challenger is the enigmatic Mr Incredible. A horse with pucks of ability but with a contrary attitude at times. The ‘Cantona of Closutton’, he has to be micromanaged. He is trained differently to all the other horses, never doing the same thing two days in-a-row. While we have a routine now that keeps him happy most of the time, his temperament resurfaces from occasionally like a stain that is faded but never gone.

And trying to make him do something he doesn’t want to is as pointless as interrogating a sheep. So, we work around him and kid and cod and ask and suggest.

He is just seven years old and has only had six runs over fences so there is room for him to improve. He gets in right down the bottom of the weights with just 10st 4lbs, which is a massive help. Brian Hayes will ride and knows him well.

The extended trip will suit, as will the enlarged field of 40 horses. More horses in and around him, and to keep passing, will keep him interested and I think the particular puzzle that the Grand National sets will engage this rogue of a racehorse. I think today he can live up to his name.

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PATRICK’S NATIONAL PICKS

Mr Incredible

Ain’t That A Shame

Gaillard Du Mesnil

Longhouse Poet

Carefully Selected