Trainers' title race leader Elliott set to send over small team

Aintree next week promises to be a little less Irish than it was last year after Gordon Elliott mirrored Willie Mullins' decision to send a reduced team to the Randox Health Grand National festival.

Elliott moved €400,000 clear of Mullins in the race to be Ireland's champion trainer at Limerick on Thursday when he confirmed that although he is set to be well represented in the National, he will field a reduced raiding party across the supporting races.

Mullins - who last season sent a sizable squad to Aintree to bolster a British trainers' championship challenge that narrowly failed - is this time engaged in a fierce fight on home soil, with Elliott certain to have a massive financial advantage heading into the lucrative Fairyhouse and Punchestown festivals.

Given the need to keep back stars for valuable domestic prizes, Mullins is unlikely to have much Aintree representation outside the National, in which he plans to field Pleasant Company and Alelchi Inois.

In similar vein, Elliott said: "We are not going to have too many runners at Aintree, probably fewer than in recent years. We have still to finalise our team and we will sit down in the next couple of days and put our heads together to make final plans."

"We will obviously have a good few in the Grand National. At the moment, I would have to say my best two chances are Ucello Conti and Cause Of Causes. Those two are the pick of my bunch.

"Ucello Conti has been trained all year with this race in mind. He ran really well in it last year and certainly deserves another shot at it.

"Cause Of Causes has been a fantastic horse for us over the years and owes us nothing after winning at the last three Cheltenham Festivals. The Grand National is a race that might suit him. He's very versatile and has come out of Cheltenham in good shape."

Like Cause Of Causes, Apple's Jade - a 41-length Aintree winner for Mullins last April - is expected to seek a Cheltenham-Aintree double when taking on Champion Hurdle winner Buveur D'Air in the Betway Aintree Hurdle on Thursday.

"Apple's Jade takes her races so well we have to consider her for the Aintree Hurdle," added Elliott.

"She really is bouncing after Cheltenham. We could run her at both Aintree and Punchestown. Nothing is set in stone, though, and we will have to see how she is over the next few days before making a final decision on where she shows up."

The mare's rider Bryan Cooper said: "Apple's Jade was brilliant at Cheltenham. When I needed two big jumps out of her at the last two hurdles she came up for me both times.

"The Aintree Hurdle would be right up her street. She was very good at Aintree last year and came on a lot for her run at Cheltenham. She comes alive in the spring."

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