Well-fancied novice Churchstonewarrior ruled out of Irish Grand National

Churchstonewarrior, one of the leading fancies for the BoyleSports Irish Grand National, will miss the Easter Monday marathon at Fairyhouse due to the muscle problem that ruled him out of Cheltenham.

The Jonathan Sweeney-trained eight-year-old was 10-1 co-favourite with Paddy Power for the Irish Grand National, while the race sponsors BoyleSports went the same price and had only Gaillard Du Mesnil shorter in their market.

The consistent staying novice chaser was due to carry only 10st 4lb at Fairyhouse, having been allocated a mark of 146, but he will not be able to take up the engagement.

Sweeney said on Thursday: "Unfortunately, Churchstonewarrior won't make the Irish National. It's just going to come too soon as it's only two weeks away on Monday. We just don't have enough time to get him there.

"It's nothing serious, just a muscle problem, and I'd imagine he will be fine in a few weeks. We might look for something for him at Punchestown instead."

Churchstonewarrior had been trading at around 9-2 for the National Hunt Chase but was not declared because of a pulled muscle. The form of his Grade 2 win at Navan last month does not look too shabby now, given he beat Mahler Mission, who was still in front and trading at 1-3 in-running on the exchanges when crashing out at the second-last during the National Hunt Chase.

Sweeney said: "We were hopeful of a big run for him at Cheltenham and everything had gone well in the lead-up to the race, but he pulled a muscle at the eleventh hour and we had to miss out.

"It was a shame, especially when you see how well Mahler Mission was running, but you never really know how you might have fared. Anyway, it's nothing too serious and he'll be back in a few weeks. The Irish National just comes a little bit too soon but there will be plenty of other options for him."

BoyleSports Irish Grand National Chase (5.00 Fairyhouse, Monday, April 10)

BoyleSports: 8 Gaillard Du Mesnil, 12 Chemical Energy, Mahler Mission, Panda Boy, Stumptown, Thedevilscoachman, 14 Aint That A Shame, Carefully Selected, Tenzing, 16 bar

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