BANK on Beau (3.45) to bring home the booty in this afternoon's star-studded £500,000 Martell Grand National at Aintree.

Worth a cool £290,000 to the winner, Beau's jockey Carl Llewellyn will be hoping for better luck than last year, when the partnership went their different ways at the 20th fence.

At the time the pair were three lengths clear of a decimated field and Llewellyn is adamant he would have gone close had Beau stood up on that occasion.

"We were still going extremely strongly until I lost hold of the reins after a bad blunder at the 17th," said Carl.

Clutching desperately on to Beau's mane, he performed miracles to stay on board over the next couple of obstacles before gravity finally prevailed.

This year's much faster ground will suit the bold-jumping chestnut, a runaway winner of the Millennium Whitbread Gold Cup, far better than in 2001 when the bog-like turf made for a virtually impossible task with 12st to carry.

Now 11lb lower and the subject of massive ante-post support after a series of sparkling workouts on trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies' Gloucestershire gallops, Beau possesses a too-good-to-miss opportunity to provide Llewellyn and Twiston-Davies with a second National success following Earth Summit's 1998 win.

There are plenty of dangers to the selection, not least the fearsome 30 obstacles to be negotiated along the four-and-a-half-mile trip.

There's an abundance of regional interest headed by Red Ark, carrying the same colours as 2001 victor, Red Marauder, owned and trained by Norman Mason.

Stable jockey and assistant trainer Richard Guest could not make the minimum 10st required to ride Red Ark, although he still reckons the latter has decent prospects. "I've deliberately kept him fresh, he'll love the ground and will get the trip," reported Richard.

But Guest is by no means out of the limelight, since North Yorkshire handler Ferdy Murphy has snapped him up for the much-fancied former Scottish National hero Paris Pike.

Owner Ivan Straker has been trying all of his life to land the Aintree equivalent and Paris Pike, now clear of injury, has the class to be in the shake-up with a clear round.

Third home two seasons ago, Niki Dee also has live prospects even though he's been off course for 23 months.

Trained at Brandsby, near York, by astute handler Peter Beaumont, Niki Dee was taken to Wetherby recently for a two-mile racecourse spin.

"He went very well and I couldn't be more pleased with him," explained Beaumont.

Martin Pipe goes in mob-handed with no less than nine runners, Tony McCoy not unnaturally getting the leg-up on the yard's number one hope, Blowing Wind, remounted to finish third last year.

McCoy has broken just about every record in the book, but he's yet to claim the world's greatest steeplechase.

Blowing Wind comes into the event on the back of a game victory at the Cheltenham Festival.

Blowing Wind, Beau, and Ad Hoc look like they are set to dispute favouritism at around 8-1, and all three have the right credentials to be thereabouts.

Like Blowing Wind, Ad Hoc was also in action at the Festival, running a perfectly satisfactory trial when third to Frenchman's Creek.

Paul Nicholls has his string in absolutely scintillating form and although he is said to be "nervous" about Ad Hoc, secretly he must be full of confidence about his 2001 Whitbread Gold Cup winner.

All in all it is one of the most competitive Grand Nationals for many a year, but for my money if Beau adopts his normal front running style it means he will keep out of the trouble,which invariably causes such mayhem for hold-up horses behind.