Secret Reprieve aimed at 2021 Randox Grand National
Secret Reprieve connections are hoping that the runner can make the cut for the 2021 Randox Grand National following the confirmation that he will be aimed at the famous steeplechase a week on Saturday
It was announced at the weekend that owners William and Angela Rucker as well as handler Evan Williams had definitely decided upon making the contender a Grand National runner in the feature race at Aintree on Saturday 10th April. However in order for him to take his place in the 40-strong starting line-up, the Welsh Grand National hero will need no less than seven runners to come out.
Williams said: “I have always been a believer in those big handicaps what will be, will be. If those horses come out that would be fantastic and if they don’t, it wasn’t meant to be.
“I can’t pretend the plan was we’d end up in the Grand National, because it wasn’t. We only had the green light on Saturday that was what we would do.”
“He’s in great form and we wouldn’t even be thinking about the race if he wasn’t.
“The reality was we had looked at Cheltenham and I thought that a couple more weeks would be of benefit to us. It was only that I had not sat down with Mr and Mrs Rucker until Saturday.
“He’s a grand horse. If I have a weakness then it is buying horses that get slower as they get older. You would say he’s old fashioned, but that is the horse I buy as a youngster and the type of horse I love dealing with.”
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Regular Secret Reprieve jockey Adam Wedge will have a tough task ahead of him as he battles his way back to full fitness following a back injury sustained during a fall at Newbury earlier in March.
regarding the injury, Williams said: “He sees the main man about his scan and everything tomorrow. That will be D-Day to some extent because we want to get him back riding for every day next week really.
“I would say tomorrow is a big day for him.”
As things stand, Secret Reprieve is a best price of 16/1 in the Grand National.
