Valiant Warrior can live up to his name at Aintree tomorrow by winning the John Hughes Trophy Chase over one circuit of the Grand National course.

The 10-year-old, trained at Middleham by Micky Hammond, is no stranger to this venue, having finished tenth in last year's Grand National after jumping the final fence in fourth place.

It was that faded finish which has prompted Hammond to saddle Valiant Warrior in tomorrow's race over two and threequarter miles rather than pitch him in to another National over a distance which clearly stretches his stamina beyond his limits.

Valiant Warrior, from a stable in good form, won his latest race in spirited fashion by a short head from Aly Daley at Newcastle. A sound jumper, he promises to give jockey John Kavanagh a ride to remember over these unique fences.

Dorans Pride will be hard to beat in the £60,000 Martell Cup Chase, tomorrow's outstanding feature event.

This crack Irish chaser lost no medals in defeat when finishing third to Cool Dawn in the Cheltenham Gold Cup a fortnight ago, and was staying on best of all at the finish.

The ground at Cheltenham was plenty fast enough for Dorans Pride, who will appreciate the anticipated extra 'give' at Aintree, where the going is reported as "good to soft, good in places". Richard Dunwoody again has the mount.

Champleve, winner of the Arkle Challenge Chase at Cheltenham, goes for a notable double in the £50,000 Snademan Maghull Novices' Chase.

Martin Pipe's ex-French-trained gelding is nothing if not game, as he showed at Cheltenham when just getting the better of Hill Society in a nail-biting finish decided by the shortest of short heads. Tony McCoy again has the ride.

The Barton & Guestier Handicap Hurdle over an extended three miles looks a pretty competitive affair, but the Nap vote goes to Bold Classic to keep his unbeaten seasonal record intact.

Trained in the Borders by James Adam, Bold Classic has won all his three starts this season. He was a most impressive scorer at Uttoxeter last week, for which he has picked-up a 4lb penalty.

His Uttoxeter outing was his first since he scored at Sandown in December, after which he went down with a severe bout of ringworm.

Undoubtedly a smart performer in the making, Bold Classic can cope with this step up in class and take his winning sequence to four.

The Glenlivet Anniversary 4-Y-O Novices' Hurdle offers Upgrade the chance to follow-up his important victory in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Carl Llwellyn's mount has won his last three starts and is clearly a progressive individual. He will be hard to beat.

Jimmy FitzGerald, whose Norton yard has been unable to fire on all cylinders during the winter because of a coughing bug, gave notice of a return to form when sending out a winner - his first for six weeks - at Hexham on Monday.

FitzGerald saddles Justin Mac in the Seagram Top Novices' Hurdle and this highly-regarded gelding, coming back from an 11-week absence, should be forgiven his below par effort at Musselburgh, and deserves serious attention. Paul Carberry has the mount.

NATIONAL FIELD DROPS AS ENTRIES PULL OUT

Grand National entries began to fall by the wayside today.

Belmont King and Time For A Run will not run in Saturday's big race at Aintree, and Monday's surprise acceptors Addington Boy and Senor El Betrutti are likely to miss out it was revealed today.

Cumbrian trainer Gordon Richards has had a change of heart about Addington Boy. At first he announced that he would not have any runners in the Grand National, but at the five-day declaration stage earlier this week he left Addington Boy in. Now, however, the situation has changed once more.

Richards said that Addington Boy's owner Walter Gott is not very keen to run him unless the horse is "absolutely pinging".

"I would have loved to have had a runner but things haven't been right for this horse."

Rain at Aintree has caused trainer Susan Nock to revert to her original plan to run Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup fourth Senor El Betrutti in tomorrow's Martell Cup.

"He will travel up to Liverpool with the intention of running on Thursday," she said.

"There is a good chance the ground will be soft by Saturday and that would be no good for him.

"We would look silly if we missed the Martell Cup and then the ground prevented him running in the National."

With Belmont King and Time For A Run also both announced as non-runners the chances of a maximum field of 40 runners for the Grand National appear to be receding. Only 50 horses in total were declared on Monday.

Belmont King suffered was injured when cantering, revealed trainer Paul Nicholls. Last season's Scottish Grand National winner was due to be ridden on Saturday by Timmy Murphy, who now switches to stable companion Court Melody.

Time For A Run, Ireland's leading hope for the Grand National, has been announced a non-runner by trainer Edward O'Grady, who said: "He is fit, but not perky enough to go to Aintree."

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