WITH the Cheltenham Festival behind us, we resume action with the Midlands Grand National (3.35) the big betting race of the weekend at Uttoxeter.

This extended four-and-a-quarter mile contest is normally run in hock deep conditions with a huge crowd in attendance and you rarely get half a dozen of the entries surviving the course of events.

However, this time around the 2021 renewal is likely to be run on good to soft ground and that will suit many of the 22 entries.