Lee hoping Bishops Road can add to family gains with more Welsh National glory

For the Lee family, the Coral Welsh Grand National has a special place in their hearts, and also on the mantelpiece, with Kerry following in her father Richard's footsteps when she triumphed in the race two seasons ago with Mountainous.

Richard won the Chepstow marathon with Mountainous in 2013, and Le Beau Bai in 2011, and in a bid to match his achievement his daughter has five entries for this year's race, headed by Bishops Road.

The nine-year-old finished runner-up to Welsh National favourite Beware The Bear in Newcastle's Rehearsal Chase last time out, and will be bidding to improve on last year's effort when tenth behind Native River.

"I'm really pleased with him and I'm very hopeful he'll be a better horse next time out," said Lee. "Some people knocked his jumping at Newcastle, but they're forgetting his last run before that was the Grand National so I think it took him a lap or two to get used to the park fences again."

At 16-1, Bishops Road is the shortest in the betting of Lee's possibles, and slow ground on December 27 would be welcomed by the trainer.

She added: "He's got plenty of form on all sorts of ground, but it was attritional when he won the Grand National trial at Haydock and it was pretty soft in the Rehearsal – he's a better horse on softer ground."

Of her other contenders, Lee would be pleased if veteran Alfie Spinner could sneak into the race, although he needs a lot of horses above him in the handicap to come out.

If that happened it would be likely conditions will be extremely testing, something Lee thinks the 12-year-old would relish.

"Alfie Spinner would be the one I'd hope could get in," she said. "I know he'd be a few days off 13, but on soft or heavy ground I think he'd be there or thereabouts. He'd be the joker in the pack as I see so much of Mountainous in him.

"If he doesn't get in he could go for the Mandarin Chase at Newbury or the Classic Chase at Warwick, wherever the ground is really."

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