McCoy set to stick with Don’t Push It

Tony McCoy is set to stick with last year’s winner Don’t Push It in the John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree on April 9.

The 15-times champion jockey famously won the marathon event at the 15th attempt on Jonjo O’Neill’s charge last season and he is looking forward to being reunited with the 11-year-old on Merseyside.

“The last horse to complete back-to-back wins in the National was the great Red Rum in 1974, so we will be trying to achieve something special,” McCoy said in his column in the Telegraph.

“I’m not saying that my horse is another ’Rummy,’ who famously won the race three times, but he definitely has class.

“I know when the weights came out last month I told a room full of journalists and connections that there was a possibility I would look beyond Don’t Push It this year.

“But with the weather we are having at present, the ground should be good and that will be in his favour.

“My other possible National mount has been Synchronised. He ran a great race in the Midlands National, in which the testing ground played to his strengths, but on a faster surface I fear that they would go too quick for him.”