MOSTERTON handler Anthony Honeyball is set to run stable star Regal Encore in this afternoon’s Radox Health Grand National at Aintree (5.15pm).
The nine-year-old, who has been ridden by the likes of AP McCoy and Barry Geraghty throughout his career for owner JP McManus, will have this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning jockey in Robbie Power on board for the showpiece event in Liverpool.
Regal Encore, who was second in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in 2013, has had an inconsistent time of it of late, having been pulled-up in six out of eight starts since January 2016.
In a race he did complete however, the Honeyball-trained charge put in an eye-catching performance to get home by one-and-three-quarter lengths to claim the Lavazza Jolie Silver Cup at Ascot, under the guidance of Barry Geraghty in December.
Regal Encore is currently listed as a 66-1 shot to claim the prestigious prize, while 12-1 shot More Of That, trained by Jonjo O’Neill and set to be ridden by Geraghty, looks to be the more fancied of the McManus contingent.
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