CORRIN WOOD will have to defy top weight In the £40,000 William Hill Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase over three miles and a furlong at Wetherby Racecourse on Boxing Day.

The Donald McCain-trained seven-year-old carries 11st 12lbs as he bids to land the highlight of the West Yorkshire track's two-day meeting.

Corrin Wood enjoyed a good debut campaign over fences last season, winning three of his four starts - headlined by a two-and-a-quarter length victory over the classy Black Thunder in a novices' chase at Warwick in January.

He was subsequently sent off a 10-1 chance for the Grade 1 RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, but was well-beaten in tenth after jumping out to his right. He returned this season with a third behind Black Thunder in the Listed Future Stars Intermediate Chase at Sandown Park earlier this month.

McCain said: "Corrin Wood is grand. I would like to think I warned everyone that he would have needed his run at Sandown and we have been happy with him since.

"It is obviously never easy in a race like this under top-weight - that goes without saying - but he was a good novice last year and that is where we are with him. We will just have to live with it at the moment because opportunities for a horse like him are few and far between and we need to kick on.

"He won at Warwick, so going left-handed won't stop him unduly. I wouldn't think it (jumping out to the right) is quite as significant at Wetherby when you have got two straights and two bends, whereas those turning tracks might be a little bit more relevant. He should be okay."

Corrin Wood, the mount of Jason Maguire, is set to face ten rivals, including Norton trainer Malcolm Jefferson's Cape Tribulation, who is bidding to become the first dual winner following an impressive 11-length victory in 2012. The ten-year-old was also third last year.

Sheriff Hutton handler Mark Walford will saddle Fentara while Rose of the Moon goes for Nawton's David O'Meara and Middleham trainer Mick Hammond runs bottom weight Master Of The Hall.

Great Habton's Tim Easterby will be hoping Scottish Grand National third, Trustan Times, can bounce back to his best after two outings this season.