TIGER ROLL’S RETURN BOOSTS GRAND PLANS

TIGER ROLL took an encouraging first step back on the road to the Randox Health Grand National when pipped for fourth in the Boyne Hurdle at Navan. The Gordon Elliott-trained gelding (below) will chase history at Aintree on April 4 when trying to join the legendary Red Rum as a three-time winner of Britain’s biggest steeplechase. Having been off the course since beating Magic Of Light in the 2019 Grand National and only returning to training on January 1 after an operation to remove a bone chip from a knee in November, expectations yesterday were modest for Tiger Roll, who started at 9-1 in a race he had won last year. But he displayed the light-footedness that has served him so well at Aintree with a neat hurdling display, still looking in contention to finish in the first three under jockey Keith Donoghue until his lack of peak fitness took its toll approaching the final hurdle in a race won by his stablemate Cracking Smart. Elliott said: ‘I would have been thrilled if he had beaten one or two home. I thought there were a lot of pluses to be taken out of the race.’ Tiger Roll, who was beaten 14 lengths and whose presence doubled the normal attendance at his local course, is 5-1 favourite with Ladbrokes for the Grand National in which he will carry top weight. Meanwhile, two-time champion Flat jockey Paul Hanagan is facing a spell on the sidelines after fracturing his T6 vertebra in a fall at Newcastle on Saturday night.