Denman out of Grand National
Denman has been scratched from the John Smith's Grand National following his comeback defeat at Kempton on Saturday.
Trainer Paul Nicholls officially took last season's Cheltenham Gold Cup hero out of the Aintree marathon this morning.
Weights for the race, for which the nine-year-old was ante-post favourite at around 10-1, will be unveiled tomorrow.
Denman was certain to have headed the weights for the National after being among the 123 entries for the £900,000 (€1m) handicap chase over four and a half miles on April 4.
However, connections have decided to give it a miss this year and concentrate on defending his Gold Cup crown following his 23-length defeat by Madison Du Berlais in the Levy Board Chase. It was his first loss in 10 starts over fences.
