Sheehan set for National ride

Gavin Sheehan has been provisionally pencilled in to ride Black Thunder in the at on Saturday.

The Irish jockey partnered the nine-year-old in a workout at last week and the upcoming event will be the first competitive link-up with trainer Paul .

Black Thunder is not in the greatest vein of form at the moment, with the last victory coming at back in December 2014 when comfortably beating Rocky Bender in second.

The only stumbling block ahead of the is the fact the black gelding is up for auction at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale on and a switch in trainer would mean Sheehan may have to look elsewhere.

“It will be Gavin's first ride for me, but he rode him in work during the week at Wincanton,” Nicholls told the Telegraph. “It just depends if the horse gets sold and what they want to do. A lot can still happen.”

Nicholls will saddle five other in the race – Unioniste, Wonderful Charm, Just A Par, and – and Nicholls admits the latter is most likely to triumph.

He added: “The main one is Conti, he's a seven-time Grade One winner, he's very well and trained for the race.”

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