CROSS EXAMINATION

Mccain seeks reason for Peddlers poor run

AFTER being pulled up in last week’s World Hurdle, Peddlers Cross is undergoing a thorough veterinary examination in Newmarket.

Trainer Donald McCain (right) endured a disappointing winless Festival but admitted he had been ‘shocked’ how badly the 2011 Champion Hurdle runner-up had performed.

The trainer said: ‘Peddlers Cross was the one that shook me. I was devastated. If I’d thought for one moment that he was going to run like that we would never have sent him.

‘He never travelled and was distressed afterwards. He i s being checked out in Newmarket to see where we are because there was no sign of anything.’

While plans are on hold for Peddlers Cross, McCain intends to run Overturn at Aintree’s John Smith’s Grand National meeting, blaming the soft Cheltenham ground for his 30-length fourth to Simonsig in the Arkle Trophy when he lost his unbeaten chasing record.

The Cheshire- based trainer has four of the 57 entries that have stood their ground in the National with three intended starters on April 6.

Two of them Across The Bay, who has benefited from a breathing operation, and Weird Al cantered at the track yesterday but McCain insists that Ballabriggs, the 2011 winner and likely mount of stable jockey Jason Maguire, will go into the race as his leading chance.

He said: ‘He’s our No 1. He’s a National winner. He might be 12-years- old but so was (his father Ginger’s 2004 winner) Amberleigh House.’

Eighteen of the 40 entries guaranteed a place in the National are Irish. The last horse guaranteed to make the cut is Kim Bailey’s The Rainbow Hunter.

Top weight i s currently Imperial Commander who will be ridden by Sam TwistonDavies, son of trainer Nigel, if given the green light to run.