Celebre d’Allen poised to take Grand National chance

Connections of Celebre d’Allen face a nervous wait to see if they will sneak into the Randox Grand National after being left on the cusp of a run in the Aintree showpiece.

Philip Hobbs and Johnson White’s veteran has shown a liking for the Grand National course previously and although he holds an option in the Topham 24 hours prior to the National, his training team are dreaming of tackling the Merseyside main event.

White said: “The owner is very keen to have a go at the Grand National and he’s in great form. I think the trip on that ground would be very suitable.

“I haven’t overly talked to Philip about it as up until now it probably looked unlikely he would get in, but I think the owner would be very keen to have a go, as would we.

“He’s jumped the National fences very well previously and I do think the ground will be a huge help to him seeing out the trip.

“We’ve got the Topham as a bit of a backstop, but at the same time we would much rather have a crack at the National than the Topham.”

Also on course to represent Hobbs and White at Aintree is Imperial Saint who has registered three course victories over fences at the track this term.

His team deliberately swerved the Cheltenham Festival to remain fresh for another visit to Merseyside, with the seven-year-old being lined-up for a step up to Grade One company in Thursday’s EBC Group Manifesto Novices’ Chase.

White continued: “We’re planning to run Imperial Saint in the Manifesto. A lot of our running plans will be ground dependent but Imperial Saint won’t mind the ground whatever it is.

“He will have his entry in the Manifesto on the Thursday, but if that looks ridiculously hot then we will also put him in the three-mile handicap on the Saturday (William Hill Handicap Chase).

“We purposely missed Cheltenham to go to Aintree and we think he’s in great form and can’t wait to get him there.”

However, one horse in the Hobbs and White string finished for the year is Lowry’s Bar, who was last seen pulling up when well touted for the valuable Ladbrokes Trophy at Kempton.

“Lowry’s Bar is all good, he just came back from Kempton with a bit of blood in his nostrils and Micheal (Nolan, jockey) did the right thing and pulled him up,” said White.

“We’ll come back and hopefully run some nice races in the autumn.”