'He's just so good' - Sean Bowen bids to ride first winner for trainers of Grand Sefton favourite at Aintree

Connections of Grand Sefton Handicap Chase favourite White Rhino have turned to champion jockey Sean Bowen in the absence of regular rider Henry Brooke for the first race of the season over the Grand National fences on Saturday.

The Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero-trained nine-year-old was pulled up by Brooke in Doncaster’s Grimthorpe Handicap Chase when last seen in March but the jockey is sidelined with a broken leg sustained in a fall at Perth in September.

White Rhino is the 5-1 market leader just ahead of last year’s winner King Turgeon for the £85,000 Aintree race, which Greenall and Guerriero won with Gesskille in 2023.

“Henry Brooke normally rides ours,” said Greenall. “Since he’s been injured we’ve been struggling to find someone we can get consistency with, who has the experience. 

“Jonjo O’Neill Jr rides our JP [McManus] horses and we were hoping he’d be able to ride a few more of our other horses, but he's pretty busy for his brother and his dad.”

O’Neill Jr rides Grand Sefton topweight and third favourite Johnnywho, owned by McManus and trained by Jonjo and AJ O'Neill.

White Rhino gives Bowen the chance to partner a breakthrough victory for the two-time Cheltenham Festival-winning stable of Greenall and Guerriero.

“Around that course, you need someone with experience, who knows the track, and he's just so good,” said Greenall. “He'll get a feel for White Rhino down to the start and he'll have looked at all his form. He'll know the score totally. He'll trust us and, if Rhino's on form, Sean will definitely get the job done.”

White Rhino progressed from a rating of 74 over hurdles to strike off a 49lb higher mark at Cheltenham in December 2023, after which winning rider Brooke was interviewed in tears on ITV Racing following the fatal injury to stablemate Gesskille in the previous race.

“We always thought we'd go chasing a lot sooner, but he just kept winning over hurdles,” said Greenall at a press conference organised by The Jockey Club. “He bled twice last season. With the Aintree fences being so wide and bigger, it should slow them up a little bit. I think it'll be a nicer experience for him as his first start back having not run for so long.”

Gaboriot (far left): third in last year's Grand SeftonCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Gaboriot also represents the yard off a 3lb lower mark than when third in last year’s race. 

“We've put the blinkers on,” Greenall said of Robbie Dunne’s mount. “I think they'll really help him travel. We tried him at Newcastle over four miles and he just wasn't himself that day. He's had a long time off since then and  I think the fences bring him alive.” 

The going on the Grand National course is good to soft, soft in places. Clerk of the course Sulekha Varma said: “We’ve had just shy of 30mm of rain in the last seven days, so [there’s] plenty of moisture in there, but we're now dry pretty much through to Saturday.

“Anyone who’s been outside in the last few days will be aware of quite how mild it is compared to what we'd normally have at this time of year. I wouldn't be surprised to see us dry out a little bit.”

Grand Sefton Handicap Chase, 2.40 Aintree, Saturday
bet365: 5 White Rhino, 11-2 King Turgeon, 13-2 Johnnywho, 9 Our Power, 10 Excello, Gaboriot, Jet Plane, 12 Colonel Harry, Frero Banbou, 14 bar.

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