Iroko maintained his place on the head of the Grand Nationwide betting with a effective victory within the Howden Commencement Chase at Ascot.
His trainers Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero had been joyful to comply with the identical path as final 12 months, regardless of him coming down on the first on this race 12 months in the past.
Having completed second at Haydock to The Jukebox Man on his seasonal return, filling the identical spot as he had within the corresponding race final season, he nonetheless certified for such occasions with simply the one win over fences to his identify.
Fourth within the Nationwide final time period, all roads lead again to Aintree however whereas he confronted solely two rivals, they had been from the powerhouse stables of Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins.
It was Elliott’s Firefox who went off the odds-on favorite however a nasty mistake two out stopped him in his tracks and Jonjo O’Neill jnr took full benefit, and the 2-1 probability shot almost 5 lengths clear.
James Du Berlais was all the time in third, simply as he was final season.
Bookmakers left Iroko as their 10-1 favorite for the Aintree showpiece, with some going shorter at 8-1, with Iroko set to move to Kelso for the Premier Chase he was second in earlier within the 12 months to place his Nationwide claims additional underneath the highlight.
Greenall stated: “He needed to go and have a race today and even though it was a three-runner race they quickened up fairly early up the hill and he had to grind it out.
“It takes a while for him to get into gear and get his head down and he was tight on the second final however good on the final and he is come by way of good in the long run.
“I’m not sure if the other two have run quite up to their marks, Willie’s horse definitely hasn’t and Gordon’s made a few jumping errors towards the end.
“We’re working again from the Nationwide and we would return to Kelso for the race he was second to Gray Dawning in final 12 months. It is a good observe and never many runners go there after which I believe we’ll miss Cheltenham and go straight to Aintree.
“He seems better than last year, trainers always say they seem to strengthen up and it might be true. Jonjo comes and rides him out and says he’s better so I hope he is right.”
