Dave Nevison's Grand National tips and Aintree bets for Saturday

Cuthbert Dibble has already done me a couple of favours this season and I almost paid a price for deserting him at Cheltenham where he finished an excellent third in the Pertemps Final. 

He has still only had the three runs this season, so will arrive here fairly fresh for this race that does not look quite as strong as his latest outing. 

Nigel Twiston-Davies will probably be pleased that he has only gone up a pound for his Cheltenham Festival exertions and he looks one of not many in this field who are still open to further improvement. 

Cuthbert Dibble has been favourite for each of his past six races, and has won four of them, and it is difficult to see him running a bad race here with the ground and trip suiting him perfectly well.

Dan Skelton had the third in this three years ago, the runner-up two years ago with Shan Blue, and then he won it last year with Midnight River, so he clearly targets this handicap every season. 

The King Of Ryhope looks an obvious plot horse for this year and definitely has the potential to be well handicapped as a staying chaser. 

The eight-year-old seems to run very well when fresh (all of his wins have come after a reasonable break) and the fact he missed Cheltenham could well be a plus here. 

Hopefully, his trainer has been working on his jumping as he can still make novicey mistakes, but this field is not as big as it sometimes is in this race, so that should help him. 

He's my main selection. I backed this horse last year and I am sticking with Vanillier again this year, although I have a feeling he may well be a drifter in the market as others have possibly got sexier profiles coming into the race. 

I have watched last year’s race a few times now and while I agree with most pundits that Corach Rambler travelled supremely well, and idled quite dramatically, on the long run in, I also believe that Vanillier was ridden very cautiously (in my opinion overly so) and came from so far back that he had no chance of getting to the winner. 

He finished with petrol left in the tank and I believe that the circumstances here provide an excellent opportunity for him to win. 

Firstly, I cannot get away from the weight pull in Vanillier’s favour - he's 9lb better off with Corach Rambler for a diminishing two-and-a-quarter length victory - whic is a lot of weight over this trip. 

Also, the ground will be slower, which will hopefully mean Vanillier will not be too far behind at the back of the field, and his unquestionable stamina reserves will come into play earlier. 

Gavin Cromwell has had one target all year, and I fully expect to see a horse in absolutely peak condition for this race. 

Detractors will argue Vanillier has only won one steeplechase, but he was an 11-length winner of the Grade One Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival, and has been campaigned to win a National, so has not been anywhere near his peak for most appearances. 

I believe that Gavin Cromwell is a brilliant target trainer, and he has done this column a few favours already this season, so I am confident of a very good run once more from Vanillier.

He's still my idea of the best horse for the home defence in a race dominated by Irish runners like never before. A weights rise of 13lb is going to make it very tough for him here, but he will be spot on after finishing an excellent third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last time out.  

I am Maximus beat Vanillier last time out in the Bobbyjo Chase, which is always an excellent trial, and looks another ideal type for this race, although I don’t believe it was the real Vanillier he beat last time. 

He is another Grade One-winning chaser and beat three last time out winners when he won the Drinmore before Christmas.

Meetingofthewaters finished third in the Ultima at Cheltenham and is another J P McManus-owned runner who will be well suited by the test that Aintree provides. 

He has obviously been bought specifically for this race and with more time than is often the case to get over his exertions at Cheltenham, I very much expect a good performance here.