MULTIPLE CHAMPION JOCKEY Tony McCoy has opted to choose Double Seven as his mount for Saturday’s Grand National.
McCoy, who won the Aintree spectacle in 2010 on Don’t Push It, had been deliberating between Double Seven and another Irish challenger Colbert Station.
Both run in the Don’t Push It colours of Irish owner JP McManus ahead of the gruelling four-and-a-half mile (7.2 kilometer) steeplechase.
The record-breaking Northern Irish rider was on board Colbert Station last year. McCoy came off at The Chair, which is considered the tallest and toughest of the fences that horses have to negotiate.
Frank Berry, racing manager to McManus, added: “He (Colbert Station) is very well and Ted (Walsh) is happy with him.
“We have Double Seven who has had a fantastic summer. He’s won five and if the ground turned up good I’d say it would be a toss up between Colbert Station and Double Seven.”
Teaforthree is 8-1 favourite for Saturday’s Aintree spectacle which breaks the £1 million ($1.6 million) prize money barrier for the first time. Trained in Wales by Rebecca Curtis he finished third to the since retired Auroras Encore last year.
Another contender figuring prominently in the ante-post betting is Monbeg Dude.
The 2012 Welsh Grand National winner is part-owned by former England rugby captain Mike Tindall, whose wife, Zara, Queen Elizabeth II’s grand daughter, has played a key role in helping improve the nine-year-old’s jumping.
