Next stop Aintree: Any Second Now faces 'big task' in Grand National says Ted Walsh after cosy prep win

Ted Walsh may think 11st 12lb in the Grand National is beyond the capabilities of last year's runner-up Any Second Now, but there is little doubt the 11-year-old will be making the trip in little less than four weeks at the top of his game after he won his second Webster Cup.

Any Second Now won this race in 2021 in impressive fashion before his luckless third to Minella Times at Aintree. This time around, in the hands of Denis O'Regan, he was equally decisive as he swept past the always prominent Velvet Elvis from the final fence to score by seven lengths with more in hand. He was cut to a best-priced 16-1 (from 20) with William Hill for the National on April 15.

The winning trainer was very happy with where he has JP McManus's strong stayer at this stage while being realistic, as he sees it, about his chance of lugging topweight around Aintree. 

Walsh said: "He did it nicely and didn't do any more than he had to. Denis was very happy with him. He popped away nicely, got under the last a bit, but when he grabbed hold of him after the last he quickened up well.

Ted Walsh on Any Second Now's Grand National bid: "He will need absolutely everything to fall right for him and for a few of the fancied ones to run into trouble"Credit: Lorraine O'Sullivan

"I'm happy with him now. Any time he has gone to Aintree he has gone with a win, in this race twice and the Bobbyjo last year. He's been a model of consistency. I'm glad they got this meeting on. It's a month to Aintree now and that should be grand. 

"He has a big task at Aintree. He is up 8lb from last year. He wasn't unlucky last year, a horse on the improve beat him. He will need absolutely everything to fall right for him and for a few of the fancied ones to run into trouble. But it's great to have him."

Walsh added: "He loves it around here. It's seven years since he won his maiden hurdle here at 66-1 for Ian McCarthy, he's been a very sound horse and he never lets you down. From two miles to four miles on every type of ground. Where would you get a horse like that?"

Times strikes for Tyner

The slow wind down of the Robert Tyner operation continues but he helped owner JP McManus have another big day as the owner landed the two feature races. The McManus homebred Better Times Ahead could have been called the winner a long way out in the Grade B Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Handicap Chase Final and what he found under Simon Torrens did not disappoint, running on strongly up the hill to beat fellow bottomweight Galon De Vauzelle by four lengths.

Tyner, who trained the dam Byerley Babe, said: "He had a nice run the last day at Gowran and he has stepped forward since. He just seemed to handle the conditions very well and travelled into it lovely."

Randox Grand National (5.30 Aintree, April 15)

Paddy Power: 7 Corach Rambler, 8 Noble Yeats, 10 Gaillard Du Mesnil, 12 Any Second Now, Mr Incredible, Conflated, 14 Delta Work, 16 Galvin, 18 Le Milos, Longhouse Poet, 20 Lifetime Ambition, 25 bar.

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