April 2021 Sporting Preview : A Fantastic April Awaits Us

Last Updated : 30th March, 2021 By Steve A

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Aintree, Wembley, Augusta and Sheffield

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April 5-31

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An exciting April lies ahead of us with some great sporting action on the way. Our preview looks ahead to the Grand National, the Carabao Cup Final, US Masters and the beginning of the World Snooker Championships.

Get your Cloth Cap on for the Grand National

All eyes will be on Aintree on Saturday April 10 as the Grand National takes place. We all missed it last year and will never know whether Tiger Roll would have won for a third successive year.

This year the favourite is Cloth Cap trained by Jonjo O'Neill who never won this race as a jockey but trained the winner 11 years ago. Cloth Cap was a winner last time out winning a Listed race by seven and a half lengths. That followed up a ten length win in a Grade 3 race at Newbury last November. Cloth Cap is nine years old and two of the past four winners have been that age. A weight of 10 stone 5lbs looks pretty good for a horse that has been winning good races. There's an excellent chance that it can give Jonjo O'Neill another Grand National triumph.

The First of Four?

Manchester City are again chasing the quadruple. April 25 sees them take on Tottenham in the final of the Carabao Cup. It's a competition that City have had great success in and they are attempting to win this trophy for the fourth successive season. The last team to do that was Liverpool who won the cup four times between 1981 and 1984. Overall, City have won the League Cup seven times and only ever lost one final.

Tottenham have had success in this competition too with four wins. It's 13 years since their last win and six since they last made it to the final. Jose Mourinho would love to get one over Pep Guardiola and it might even save his job. City are in top form tough and a win for them will be of interest to other Premier League clubs. The winners of this competition go into the new Europa Conference League City are on their way to the Champions League of course, so a win here will free up another place in the Premier League to qualify. City can lift the trophy but how many others will they win?

Warmer Weather this time at the Masters

It's probably never going to happen again, so enjoy the second US Masters in the space of five months. Dustin Johnson won the Masters last November and he now bids to defend that title at Augusta between April 8-11.

The last player to win two successive Masters was Tiger Woods when winning in 2002 and 2003. He won again in 2019 but is recuperating from his recent car crash. Hopefully he'll be back next year. Johnson won the 2020 Masters finishing on -20, the best score breaking 270 for his four rounds. That was a record score and won him the title by five shots. 

Experienced players tend to do well around Augusta. Three of the last four winners have been aged 36 or over. There can be shock results in golf as in other sports. However, the last ten winners have all been in the top 30 in the rankings and eight of them in the top 20. Five of the last seven tournaments have been won by American golfers. Could England get another winner? Danny Willett won here in 2017, now that was one of the few shock winners. Before that you have to go back to Nick Faldo in 1996. Tyrrell Hatton is currently in the top eight and players such as Lee Westwood and Paul Casey also have a chance if hitting top form.

Bryson DeChambeau is our tip to win this title. The big-hitter won the US Open last year, so he knows how to land one of the big titles. He also finished fourth in the US PGA and has the distance with his drive to win the first of this year's four Majors.

Another World Title for Ronnie?

There's plenty of interest in this championship throughout the month of April. The qualifiers start on the 5th. There will be plenty of interest in the first qualifying round match between Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry. The Scot made his tour comeback recently losing to Matthew Selt but he did score a century. This match takes place on April 5 and it's White who is the favourite to progress.

The action at the Crucible begins on the 17th with the final being played on May 2 and 3. Ronnie O'Sullivan defends his World Snooker Championship at the Crucible looking to win a seventh title. That would equal the modern day record of seven won by Stephen Hendry. O'Sullivan has reached five finals this season and lost each and every one of them. There have been some heavy defeats too with a 10-3 loss to John Higgins and 10-4 to Neil Robertson. He's always a dangerous player and will be the one to beat.

There are plenty of contenders though in an open looking championship. Judd Trump has had a good season with five titles won. If John Higgins can show the form he displayed during the Players Championship, another title isn't out of the question. Neil Robertson needs a haircut (boy does he need a haircut) but has won two major titles this season and reached two other finals. Mark Selby is another that can't be ruled out and he's also won two titles this season. We don't know if fans will be in the Crucible but it looks like being another entertaining championship.