Baie Des Iles Backed For National

Being a grey, ridden by groundbreaking female rider – Katie Walsh – and aged 7 years-old, the Ross O’Sullivan-trained BAIE DES ILES will have the trend followers looking to take her on.

However, despite no female rider yet to win the world’s greatest steeplechase and the last 7 year-old to land the prize being in 1940, punters are still happy to back this grey.

Katie Walsh is, of course, one of the best female jumps riders around and has been placed in the National in the past when third on Seabass in the 2012 renewal. She will also be riding for her husband, who trains this mare – a proper ‘Girl Power’ pairing! So, maybe punters are latching onto the Grand National story that this race always seems to throw out – and there would surely be no bigger one than that!

After being as big as 50/1* earlier in the week, Baie Des Iles, is now around 16/1* and is expected to get even shorter with a lot of bookies reporting that if the horse did win it would be a very bad result for them.

Home safe and sound , what a day thank you Baie des iles and of course @katiewalsh9 pic.twitter.com/YduYXpHzfl

— Ross O’Sullivan (@rosullivan82) February 5, 2017

The horse is still young and many feel it might be a year too soon – after all the last 7 year-old to win the Grand National was in 1940 and there has to be a reason for that – right?

However, the horse has run beyond her years during her career already when a close third in the Punchestown Grand National Trial in February and was also fifth in the 2016 Welsh National.

Katie Walsh has ridden the horse in all of her last 8 races and in those outings has only finished out of the first 6 once!

*Odds subject to change.

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