Frank Berry has confirmed Carlingford Lough has been withdrawn from the field for Saturday’s Grand National at Aintree.
Carlingford Lough, who was due to carry top-weight of 11st 10lb in the most valuable jump race in Europe, was looking in decent form heading into the coveted meeting.
The 11-year-old bay gelding picked up a win at Punchestown in April last year before recording back-to-back fourth place finishes at Navan and Leopardstown in 2017.
However, Berry, who is racing manager to owner JP McManus, has revealed the four-time Grade One winner will miss the race in favour of a trip to Ireland.
“He’s not going to run on Saturday. He’s going to wait for the Irish National or the Punchestown Gold Cup ? either of them two,” he was quoted as saying by sportinglife. “He could run in the Irish National.”
Ziga Boy has also been pulled out after picking up a tendon injury and Dan Downie, racing manager for the Axom syndicate that owns the Alan King-trained grey, says the eight-year-old will be out for some time.
“It’s very disappointing, obviously. We nearly got there, but we all know how hard it is to get these horses ready for a big day and unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get him back to fight another day at some stage, but I would have thought he’ll miss the whole of next season.”
