Bud back for Becher
The Nigel Twiston-Davies trained veteran made nearly every yard of the running 12 months ago and will no doubt adopt the same tactics again.
Paul Nicholls has won three of the last seven runnings and has entered Meanus Dandy and Niche Market, while Always Waining, winner of the Topham at Aintree in April, is, along with Ballyvesey and Sun Tzu, one of three possibles for Peter Bowen.
David Pipe looks to hold a strong hand with Swing Bill, Master Overseer and Sona Sasta.
Any Currency, Fine Parchment, Rare Bob, Nicto De Beauchene and Irish challenger Uncle Junior are others of note.
Mad Max is due to make his debut for Neil Mulholland and will this week be schooled over specially-constructed Aintree-style fences.
“We’ve taken him away for a nice gallop, he schooled last week over normal fences and we’re going to build an Aintree fence at home for him this week,” said Mulholland.
