JP McManus opts for Cheltenham Festival prep race for Grand National favourite Iroko

Iroko was set for a run at Kelso on Saturday in the Premier Chase but will now be heading to Cheltenham to prepare for the Grand National.

Owner JP McManus, whose horses adorn the green and gold hooped silks, decided a Cheltenham Festival run would be better than the run at Kelso, like he did last year.

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The gelding trained by Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero is the current favourite at around 7’s for the greatest jumps race in the world at Aintree in April.

Connections will be hoping Iroko can improve on his 4th placed finish at the Grand National last year.

And the route to this year’s Aintree feature race is being planned meticulously to aim for just that.

The talented eight-year-old was also favourite for the race last year but will be running off a slightly higher weight.

After beating Firefox at Ascot in December over 2m5f before heading into the Ultima at Cheltenham Festival next month.

Iroko placed behind Gold Cup contender and the Harry Redknapp-owned The Jukebox Man at Haydock in his seasonal debut.

This is a popular route for Grand National runners and one that Corach Rambler famously took in 2023 when winning both races as favourite in spectacular fashion.

Guerriero said: “All’s good with him. JP and his team preferred to go to Cheltenham, so he’s going to go there, and I’d imagine it’d be for the Ultima.

“He’s already a festival winner and I think he’d have a great chance in it if he went for it. I think Jagwar may go there too, but that’s not been confirmed yet.”

Iroko could be joined in the Ultima by stablemate Jagwar, also owned by McManus, who has an entry in that race as well as the Plate Handicap Chase at Cheltenham.

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