Saturday’s Grand National at Aintree went to Comply Or Die. All the late money went to Comply Or Die who ended up the joint favourite at 7-1 with Cloudy Lane. Timmy Murphy rode Comply Or Die to a four-length victory. David Pipe was the winning trainer.

On good going, Comply Or Die covered the 30-fence 7200-metre race in nine minutes 16.60 seconds. Cloudy Lane finished sixth.

Yet to descend from cloud nine, jockey Murphy said, “just to complete the National, you have done well. Never mind finishing in front of 39 other horses.”

Trainer Dermot Weld and jockey Pat Smullen won all the three major races on Sunday at Leopardstown in Ireland. Caribbean Sunset, at 12-1, won the 1000 Guineas Trial. It was a head victory over Halfway To Heaven, ridden by Seamus Heffernan and trained by Aidan O’Brien. The favourite, Psalm, Johnny Murtagh up, was never in it after an early saddle-slipping miscue.

The 2000 Guineas Trial went to Famous Name, the 4-6 public choice. Famous Name scored by four lengths.

The Foxrock was won by Unwritten Rule. The margin was a shorthead over the heavily favoured O’Brien trainee, Washington Irving ridden by John Murtagh. Washington Irving was at 8-13 and Unwritten Rule was at 9-2.

The Leopardstown program started with a win for Chris Hayes on a 25-1 long shot. The going was called ‘yielding’ at Leopardstown.

In Germany, at Cologne racecourse, the Grade III Grand Prix Aufgalopp was won by Oriental Tiger. On a muddy track, the 29-10 Oriental Tiger made all the running for jockey Terry Hellier, Uwe Ostmann was the trainer.

Two important races were run at Longchamp in Paris on Sunday. The going was heavy. Full Of Gold, trained by Criquette Head-Maarek, came out on top in the Grade II Prix de Noailles over 2100 metres. Thierry Gillet was the rider. Criquette Maarek remembered Bering when talking about Full Of Gold. Bering won the Noailles and the Jockey Club and ran second to Dancing Brave in the 1986 Arc.

Guy Wildenstein flew to Paris to be on hand to see his Loup Breton win the Prix d’Harcourt. It was a Grade II event. Christophe Lemaire rode the Ellie Lellouche-trained Loup Breton. “I wanted to show how dedicated I am to keeping the family tradition alive, “Guy Wildenstein stated.

In Hong Kong. at Sha Tin, Armada, on the comeback trail, emerged victorious in the Grade II Chairman’s Trophy, Doug Whyte rode and John Size trains. Last year’s champion miler, Armada advertised his claims to a spot in the Champion Mile to be run on April 27. Good Ba Ba won the race in 2007 and Armada ran second. In addition to Good Ba Ba and Armada, the others likely to start in the Champion Mile are Jay Peg and Archipenko.

Courtesy: Racing Post and other sources