Atterbury National doubts

Owner David Johnson has admitted he is having “second thoughts” about running Cheltenham disappointment Lord Atterbury in the Martell Cognac Grand National.

The David Pipe-trained eight-year-old was pulled up when 3-1 favourite for the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham last week and he is currently a 20-1 shot with the leading bookmakers for the Aintree race.

Johnson told the Racing Post: “His run was too bad to be true and although the jockey (Ashley Farrant) suggested the ground might have been a factor, we’re having second thoughts now about going for the National.

“Lord Atterbury had a setback in the run-up to the Festival, which David was quite open about, but we expected him to run much better than he did.

“The Foxhunter may have come 10 to 14 days earlier than was ideal – and you never like a horse to have an interrupted preparation – but he really was disappointing.

“It’s too early to say for sure that he’ll miss Aintree, as we’ll have to see if anything comes to light but Davids’ immediate response was to put plans in abeyance.”