Junior gets green light for Irish National
The David Pipe-trained 10-year-old, who is owned by Middleham Park Racing, has been a tremendous servant to connections, winning at both the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot.
He fell in last year’s John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree and has been out of luck in his three starts since landing the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle in December.
Meanwhile, trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies says Imperial Commander is likely to take his chance under top weight in the John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree.
The 12-year-old winner returned from a near-two year absence with a fine run in defeat in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham in January, but a lung infection denied him the chance to reclaim his Gold Cup crown earlier this month.
Connections have been keen to bide their time before committing Imperial Commander to a run in the National, but it appears he is now set to line up on Saturday week, provided conditions are not too testing.
Wyck Hill has been ruled out of the big race by trainer David Bridgwater.
The nine-year-old suffered a badly-cut leg when disappointing on his first run for leading owner JP McManus in the Racing Plus Chase at Kempton last month.
Aidan Coleman has been booked to ride The Rainbow Hunter.
The nine-year-old, who is a 66-1 outsider, has been ridden by Jason Maguire and Nick Scholfield on his three outings this term but neither is likely to be available for the Aintree feature.
