04.04.08 - THE GRAND NATIONAL, RACING AT AINTREE

DARREN FAR FROM LAZY AT A TASTY 50-1

Chris Grant, the luckless jockey on no less than three John Smith's Grand National runners-up, was back at Aintree today as a trainer.
 
Grant, who finished second in the National on Young Driver in 1986 and also on Durham Edition in 1988 and 1990, saddled Lazy Darren in the Littlewoods Direct Imagine Appeal Top Novices' Hurdle. The gelding belied odds of 50-1 to finish third under Dominic Elsworth, a substitute for Tony Dobbin who took a bruising tumble in the John Smith's Topham Chase.
 
Grant said: "It was a helluva good run. He's done nothing wrong in previous races this season, the ground suited him, the track suited him and so we thought we'd come for a day out.
 
"He's run really well and maybe he likes flat tracks, but he ran round all sorts of venues when he was racing on the Flat, including Sandown and Pontefract. He's a horse that travels well in races so we thought he'd be suited here and he's run a blinder. Happy days!
 
"If he's all right he might run again this season. I've not thought about sending him back to the Flat because he's running so well over hurdles."
 
The favourite for this race, Captain Cee Bee, was seen to have broken a blood vessel.