Gordon Elliott aiming to break record and run 14 in Irish Grand National
Gordon Elliott ran 13 horses in last year's Irish Grand National and the trainer revealed on Wednesday that he could break his own record in this year's race providing Measureofmydreams makes the cut.
A total of 63 horses are left in Monday's BoyleSports-sponsored feature, the maximum field for which is 30, and the final declaration stage is on Friday morning.
Full Irish Grand National card
When General Principle gave Elliott his first win in the race last year he was one of 13 runners and he indicated he could top that figure in this year's race.
The Elliott squad includes Jury Duty, who is 8-1 co-favourite with the sponsors along Any Second Now and Pairofbrowneyes.
General Principle, who fell at the 18th fence in the Randox Health Grand National, will be attempting to become the first back-to-back winner of the Fairyhouse event since three-time winner Brown Lad won the race for the second time in 1976.
Jonjo O'Neill has trained two Irish Grand National winners for JP McManus and he will be bidding for a third success for the owner.
O'Neill said: "Minella Rocco was fine after his run in the Aintree National in which he was pulled up at the 20th fence and he will take his chance at Fairyhouse."
According to McManus's racing manager Frank Berry, Any Second Now, winner of the Kim Muir Chase at Cheltenham last month, and Auvergnat are also intended runners in the 3m5f event, while Shady Operator and Fitzhenry will also take their chance if they make the cut.
O'Neill confirmed that Annie Mc, an eight-length winner on her most recent start at Newbury, will run in the Grade 1 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse on Sunday.
He said: "Everything is good with Discorama. I couldn't be happier with him. It's not going to be an easy decision for us whether to declare him on Friday and even if we do it won't mean he'll run. We don't want the word good in the description on Monday."
The ground at Fairyhouse on Wednesday was described as yielding, good to yielding by racecourse manager Peter Roe, who said: "We're not expecting any rain for the next few days and we'll probably do some watering to maintain it between now and the start of our festival on Sunday."
He concluded: "The forecast for Sunday into Monday is uncertain."
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Published on 17 April 2019inNews
Last updated 19:54, 17 April 2019
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