Rocco raring to go for National

JONJO O’NEILL has given Minella Rocco the green light to spearhead his challenge for the Randox Health Grand National. The JP McManus-owned horse will carry top weight of 11st 10lb at Aintree on April 14 following the latest forfeit stage; 73 horses remain, with 17 of the first 40 in the weights trained in Ireland. Blaklion, trained by Nigel TwistonDavies, is the 10-1 favourite. O’Neill said: ‘Minella Rocco definitely runs. He is in great form and hopefully he stays that way. He wouldn’t have been able to jump out of the heavy ground at Cheltenham last week. It’s got to be the National. He’s a class horse.’