Scudamore hopes to land marathon with Mysteree

Betfred Midlands Grand National (Listed) | 5yo+ | 4m1f | ITV4/ATR

Mysteree attempts to complete a double in two of the season's most gruelling races as he seeks to add the Midlands National to his Eider Chase triumph.

Since joining Michael Scudamore from Lucinda Russell he has continued to excel in tests of stamina, winning two of his three starts. He has gone up 6lb for that win, which came three weeks ago.

A number of his opponents from the Newcastle marathon reoppose, including Gevrey Chambertin, who was running a big race until blundering at the 19th and unseating Tom Scudamore.

Gevrey Chambertin represents trainer David Pipe, who has landed this race four times in the last six years.

Past heroes

Two previous winners are back – last year's scorer Firebird Flyer and Goulanes, who has joined Neil Mulholland since landing the race for Pipe in 2014.

What they say

David Dennis, trainer of Final Nudge
He came out of his Newbury win very well. I thought his jumping was slicker than normal. It's a step into the unknown on the stamina front because he's never raced beyond three miles, but he's a good stayer up to three miles.

Nigel Twiston Davies, trainer of Benbens and Cogry
Benbens has plenty of weight so we’re taking 7lb off. But he has been off the course for over a year and he may just need the run, although hopefully not. Cogry was second in the race last year and hopefully he can go one better. He handles most types of ground.

Warren Greatrex, trainer of Out Sam and Warrantor
Out Sam was very unlucky in the Eider. He got stopped at the first and it was game over. He did a circuit and then pulled up. He has been frustrating, he shows me more at home than he's shown on the course, but he was just starting to show a bit more on the track. Warrantor had a very easy run last time. He didn't really get into it and the ground was probably too quick and he was too far back. He's been in good form since. I think he'll like the track and the trip, and we're going to ride him a bit more positively. I think he'll be competitive.

Neil Mulholland, trainer of Goulanes
We were happy with the way he was running last time but unfortunately he fell. He came out of the race well and is a course and distance winner, so hopefully he can make his presence felt.

Nick Kent, trainer of Gonalston Road
Each time we step him up he seems to improve, so this seemed the obvious thing to do. The one concern is he hasn't shown his best when it's really soft and seems best on good ground.

Michael Scudamore, trainer of Mysteree
The race is a little bit closer to the Eider than ideal but he has come out of that race very well. He's been there and done it over this sort of distance. Hopefully they'll get a bit of rain, which will help. The main worry is how soon it is after the Eider, but all the signs are good from home and this will be only his fourth run of the season.

Jonjo O'Neill, trainer of Spookydooky
He's in good form and ran well in this last year. It's a hard race to win but we're hopeful.

Gillian Callaghan, trainer of Mad Brian
He was pulled up in the race last year but we decided to give it another shot as we think there's a good race in him. He had a wind operation early this year and won by 15 lengths over hurdles at Navan last month. Hopefully, that run will have boosted his confidence for this return to fences.