Mr Moonshine set for another tilt at Aintree

Pulled up in 2013 when Smith’s now retired Auroras Encore prevailed, the chaser paid the price for aggressive riding tactics the following year before fading to 15th on the run-in.

But the High Eldwick trainer, who recently saddled her 1,000th winner, says Mr Moonshine, who runs in the blue and yellow colours of Auroras Encore, deserves another crack at the world’s greatest steeplechase despite being off the racecourse for just over a year.

“We’re going to give him another go,” Smith told The Yorkshire Post.

“He’s in good form. He had a little issue and some time off.

“He will have a run over hurdles and once the weights come out, he’ll have a race over fences.

“He schooled (yesterday) morning and he looks good.”

It is a similar story with Keith Reveley’s Night In Milan who ran with great credit last year before fading in the closing stages and finishing a leg-weary 18th to Many Clouds, who heads the 126 entries for the April 6 race at Aintree.

Even though the Saltburn trainer initially ruled out a second tilt at the National, he – and owner Richard Collins – are considering a second tilt at the race after the 10-year-old returned to winning ways when landing the Sky Bet Handicap Hurdle at Doncaster last Friday.

How Night In Milan, a Doncaster course specialist, fares at his beloved Town Moor in the coming weeks will, in all likelihood, determine his Aintree credentials.

“Every time they show a replay of last year’s National, he’s right there at the second last and just gets tired,” said Reveley.

“The owner was keen to put him in and we’ll see what happens between now and then.

“There’s a veterans’ chase coming up at Doncaster and there’s the Grimthorpe Chase there at the beginning of March.

“The National isn’t the main target; it was last year, but he ran well the other day. If he stays in good form, he deserves another day.”

While Mr Moonshine and Night In Milan would both be expected to make the 40-runner cut because of their past form over fences, the publication of the weights on February 16 will reveal whether Middleham trainer Micky Hammond’s Rathlin and Alan Swinbank’s Big Water can travel to Merseyside.

Rathlin, whose owners include British Horseracing Authority supremo Nick Rust, was unplaced when he raced over the National fences last December while Richmond-based Swinbank said it was “very unlikely” that Big Water – pulled up in two of his last three starts – will make the cut.

That said, local interest could still be provided by Jimmy Moffatt’s Highland Lodge.

Though the trainer is based in the Lake District, the horse’s victory in the Becher Chase over the formidable National obstacles was a career highlight for Yorkshire-born jockey Henry Brooke who lives near Middleham.

Furthermore the nine entries from champion trainer Paul Nicholls include last year’s 11th Mon Parrain, who is owned by Yorkshire textile businessman John Cotton and his family and who gave teenager Sean Bowen a dream first ride.

With the dominance of Nicholls being challenged by Irish trainer Willie Mullins, this year’s title race could be determined by the National.

Nicholls only denied Nicky Henderson in 2012 when Neptune Collonges won the National by the shortest winning margin in the race’s history and Mullins is leaving nothing to chance – he alone is responsible for seven of the 38 entries from the Emerald Isle.

With the National attracting the highest number of entries since 2008, the horse to beat will be Many Clouds, who will be attempting to become the first horse to win successive renewals since Red Rum in 1974.

A gutsy second at Cheltenham last Saturday to Alan King’s Smad Place, who will be aimed at the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the revised handicapping of the National in favour of top-rated horses means Oliver Sherwood’s stable star will only have to endure one pound more than the 11st 9lb that he carried to victory last year in one of the great weight-carrying performances.

Many of those who chased Many Clouds home last year are entered again with runner-up Saint Are (Tom George), fourth Alvarado (Fergal O’Brien), fifth Shutthefrontdoor (Jonjo O’Neill) and sixth Royale Knight (Richard Newland) all engaged.

Another significant entry is the aforementioned Newland’s 2014 winner Pineau De Re, who became the first horse since 2002 hero Bindaree to win another contest after taking the famous race when scoring over hurdles at Carlisle recently.

However, Michael Scudamore has been forced to admit defeat in the race to get last year’s third Monbeg Dude fit.

The horse injured a tendon in last year’s race, but Scudamore had been quietly confident the 2013 Welsh National winner – owned by a syndicate that includes Otley-born rugby union international Mike Tindall – would recover in time.

“Time has beaten us, I’m afraid,” lamented Scudamore.

“I had been very hopeful, but we were running out of time so decided to not even enter him and pull stumps for this season.

“Aintree will hopefully be the aim again next season. I know he’ll be 12 by then, but horses that age have won it before.

“There’ll be lots of nice races for him to go for along the way, including the Welsh National.”