Royale Knight will not return to the racetrack until next April’s Crabbie’s Grand National.
The nine-year-old finished sixth in the race in 2015 and he proved his ability over long distances once again when he recently won the Durham National at Sedgefield for the second year in a row.
Trainer Dr Richard Newland has confirmed that they are now set to give the gelding another crack at the showpiece race at Aintree and the rest will give him the best opportunity to put in a strong showing.
He said: “He’s going to have a break now and then we’ll aim him straight for the National. We seem to get one good run out of him after a long break as he loves being nice and fresh. It’s worked a few times so we’ll give it a proper go.”
Newland believes the gelding will also perform better if the ground is soft, as he struggled on the faster surface last season despite running a strong overall race.
He added: “The one thing is, though, he must have slow ground – last year it was just too fast for him. He loves it when it becomes really attritional and it slows the others down. He ran a beautiful race in it last year. He was just beginning to get involved when they quickened away from him.”
