Williams Hoping Secret Reprieve Can Make Grand National Cut

Welsh handler Evan Williams is hoping that his Welsh Grand National winner Secret Reprieve can sneak into the Grand National final field on the 10th of April, with the connections confirming that his big target is the Aintree feature.

The seven year old has been a superstar for the yard this turn, really turning a corner in his career having landed two of his three events including the pinnacle Welsh Grand National.

Having fell on seasonal debut, he then went to Chepstow in a trial for the big event and hacked up by 12 lengths and then still on a very handy mark stayed best of the rest to take the Grade Three.

Having not been seen since that event he will looking to head into the National seeking a hat-trick and if he does squeeze in, it will be off a very handy mark of 144.

(Credit Nick Luck's Podcast) “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,” said Williams.

“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.”