NATIONAL NEWS:DENMAN HAS been scratched from the John Smith's Grand National following his comeback defeat at Kempton on Saturday.
Trainer Paul Nicholls officially took last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup hero out of the Aintree marathon yesterday.
Weights for the race, for which the nine-year-old was ante-post favourite at around 10 to 1, will be unveiled today.
Denman was certain to have headed the weights for the National after being among the 123 entries for the €1 million handicap chase.
However, connections have decided to give it a miss this year and concentrate on defending his Gold Cup crown following his 23-length defeat by Madison Du Berlais in the Levy Board Chase. It was his first loss in 10 starts over fences.
Nicholls withdrew the horse after speaking with joint owners Harry Findlay and Paul Barber on Sunday night.
“He’s absolutely fine, 100 per cent. I had a chat with Paul and Harry last night and collectively we decided it was the right thing to do this year in the circumstances of the run on Saturday,” said the Ditcheat trainer.
“We are just going to concentrate on getting him right for the Gold Cup.
“He’s A1, but with the weights coming out on Tuesday we just wanted to end any speculation and get it sorted out,” said Nicholls.
Following Saturday’s defeat, Denman has been deposed as favourite for the Gold Cup. He is 9 to 2 with the sponsors while his stablemate, Kauto Star, is now top of the list at 7 to 4.
Meanwhile, joint-owner Harry Findlay has confirmed that Sam Thomas will keep the ride in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 13th.
