Breaking news which may be of interest to certain heavy-gambling readers of this blog, Ruby Walsh has broken his (emphasis on the 'his') wrist, and won't be riding Exit to Wave in the Grand National. Them's the breaks (literally).

But I've narrowed it down to five, despite the fact that the sun isn't even up yet, I haven't seen a weather forecast, and I've only slept about four of the last 40 hours.

So I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the Grand National will be Shardam. He'll be chased home by Hedgehunter. Third will be Amberleigh House, with fourth being a toss up between Joss Naylor and Lord Atterbury. Personally I've got £2 on all of them except Joss Naylor, on whom I've won enough times in the past. I don't like to keep bothering him. So expect him to romp home by 20 lengths, while my £2 on Lord Atterbury at 60-1 goes up in smoke at the final fence. I'm slightly concerned that Mark Bradburne, the jockey on whom that potential £120 profit depends, has just admitted "I've never sat on the horse, but I saw a lot of him last year and I know his connections think a lot of him."

By that token I'm qualified to ride in the Grand National myself. Hurrah! I wonder if I could get the leg-up on Exit to Wave now Ruby's out of the frame? I've never sat on the horse, but I've seen him on TV a couple of times and I've heard his mummy loves him.

Oh, and one more thing - don't forget to put the mortgage on my little Rhinestone Cowboy in the previous race at 2:55pm. You know it makes sense.

I'm still not talking to Thisthatandtother though. I don't care how much he apologises for Cheltenham. So expect him to hack up in the 2:20 just to annoy me.