Lion ready to roar at Aintree again

Not only did the eight-year-old lift this prize last season after denying the Henry Brooke-ridden Highland Lodge in a thriller, but he also won the Grand National Trial at Haydock in February and went on to finish sixth in the big race itself back at Liverpool in April.

Those fine performances have resulted in Tom Scudamore’s mount now being 10lb higher in the handicap for this extended three mile National trial over the Merseyside track’s iconic fences.

Pipe expects Vieux Lion Rouge to be all the sharper for his seasonal reappearance at Wetherby when he was fourth to Bristol De Mai in the Charlie Hall Chase.

“Vieux Lion Rouge will bid to follow-up his fantastic Becher Chase success of 12 months ago over three miles and two furlongs of the Grand National fences,” he said.

“He is in good order following his seasonal debut in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and he has pleased me at home since.

“For whatever reason, he seems to jump the Aintree fences particularly well and we will be hoping for the best.

“Obviously it is a tough ask from a 10lb higher mark than last year, but he will be still be going when others have cried enough.”

The Last Samuri was only beaten a length in third place last December and is set to take on Vieux Lion Rouge again, although his trainer Kim Bailey believes the nine-year-old has a stiff task.

“He’s rated 159, which is a huge hike from where he started, but he deserves to be there. He’s run consistently well all the way through his career,” said Bailey.

“The hard part is he’s just not a big horse to carry big weights. He’s not good enough for Graded races, we’ve tried it before.”

The field is likely to be headed by the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Blaklion who was second to stablemate Bristol De Mai in the aforementioned Charlie Hall, with jockey Gavin Sheehan set to retain the ride.

Meanwhile Brian Ellison’s Definitly Red and Malcolm Jefferson’s Cloudy Dream could both represent Malton in the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree on the same afternoon.

The newly-promoted Grade Two contest is named in honour of Oliver Sherwood’s 2015 Grand National hero who also claimed this race 12 months ago before suffering a pulmonary haemorrhage at Cheltenham in January after a thrilling victory over Thistlecrack in the Cotswold Chase.

Eight eyecatching entires also include the Mouse Morris-trained Alpha Des Obeaux who won last month’s triumph in the Clonmel Oil Chase and Nicky Henderson’s highly-regarded Top Notch.

Jamie Osborne is excited to see just how much ability Toast Of New York retains when he makes his first competitive appearance in over three years at Lingfield today.

The six-year-old has been on quite a journey during his relatively short racing career to date, progressing from successive wins at Wolverhampton to winning the 2014 UAE Derby at Meydan and finishing an agonisingly close second to Bayern in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita that November.

He was subsequently snapped up by Al Shaqab Racing ahead of an intended bid for Dubai World Cup glory, but a tendon injury forced his premature retirement.

However, following a largely unsuccessful spell at stud, there were murmurings earlier this year that a remarkable racecourse return was under consideration and after several painstaking months, the big day has arrived as he faces four rivals in Lingfield’s Betway Conditions Stakes.

“We kept it quiet for a long time as when we started the process we really didn’t know how far we’d get,” said the Hull-born trainer who grew up near Wetherby.

“We’ve taken things very slowly, but he’s had no soundness issues whatsoever and now it’s time to find out where we stand.

“We won’t know all the answers until he runs, obviously, but the signs he’s been showing us in the last month have been very good.”

Despite Toast Of New York’s 1,130-day absence, Osborne feels he is more than ready to recommence his racing career following a couple of recent racecourse gallops.

Nearly a year after North Yorkshire jockey Andrew Thornton injured his ligaments at Wincanton on Boxing Day last year as he dismounted while celebrating his 1,000th career winner, the weighing room veteran made it winner 1,001 when the Seamus Mullins-trained outsider Cap Horner prevailed at Lingfield yesterday.