grand national 2010 / entries /

Jockeys for Abbeybraney and Royal Rosa
08/04/10

Howard Johnson will give rising conditional Ryan Mania his first ride in the John Smith’s Grand National if both the stable entries - Abbeybraney and Royal Rosa - get in the race, the trainer stated on Wednesday morning.

A maximum of 40 runners can go to post in the John Smith’s Grand National on Saturday at 4.15pm and at the moment there are 62 vying to get a run.

The declarations for the race have to be made by 10am tomorrow and at the moment there are no likely defections from the top 40. Abbeybraney just creeps in as he is number 40, while Royal Rosa, the one Johnson really wants to run, is number 43. There are four reserves as well as the 40 runners which have to be utilised by Friday at 9.30am.

“It’s very complicated, like a game of backgammon. As you know, I would really like Royal Rosa to be in the race, but we would only withdraw Abbeybraney if Royal Rosa is the first reserve. So there are three possibilities: if both our horses run, we would put Wilson [Renwick] on Royal Rosa and Ryan [Mania] on Abbeybraney; if only Abbeybraney runs then Wilson would ride him; and if only Royal Rosa runs, then Wilson rides him," said Johnson.

Royal Rosa is currently third reserve for the John Smith’s Grand National, but Paul Murphy, who trains Mr Pointment, who already is guaranteed a spot in the race, and Cerium, number 42, has stated that if one horse drops out of the race he would withdraw Mr Pointment in favour of Cerium. So a single withdrawal would produce three new horses for Saturday’s race.

Comply Or Die
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OWNER DAVID JOHNSON REVEALS JOHN SMITH’S GRAND NATIONAL RIDING PLANS

Timmy Murphy will ride Comply Or Die in Saturday’s £925,000 John Smith’s Grand National, while Graham Lee is going to partner The Package, owner David Johnson revealed on At The Races at 12.45pm today.

This means that Murphy sticks with the horse who gave him a first John Smith’s Grand National success in 2008 and the partnership was also second last year. Both horses are trained by David Pipe.