'It's sad that the great race has come to this' - Ted Walsh voices Grand National concerns

Any Second Now will have one more run before trying to make it third time lucky in the Randox Grand National and trainer Ted Walsh has expressed his dissatisfaction at what he described as "the stumbling blocks" horses must negotiate to line up at Aintree.

The JP McManus-owned 11-year-old has been placed in the last two runnings of the Aintree marathon. He ran a remarkable race to finish third in 2021 when badly hampered by the fall of Double Shuffle on the first circuit and he faced an almost impossible task in trying to give 12lb to Noble Yeats last year, when he finished 20 lengths clear of Delta Work in third.

Any Second Now is the general 16-1 second favourite this year and the Irish handicapper has dropped him 2lb from a mark of 162 to 160 following his fourth to Galopin Des Champs in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown last Saturday.