

It is now confirmed that the Evan Williams trained State Of Play will take his chance in the Aintree Grand National despite carrying a weight of 11st 2lb. The horse has genuine class, he won the Hennessey Gold Cup in 2007 and will come to Aintree fresh having not raced since Christmas. Williams reminded punters that he always runs his best races after a lengthy lay off
The antepost market has not been too wild about the chances of the horse, but the Williams yard has been in consistent form all season and are more than capable of training a big race winner. State Of Play is best priced at 20-1 with Boylesports but several bookmakers have clipped him to 18s and 16s.