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Keith Reveley is hoping Night In Milan can put up a strong bid to win the BetBright Grimthorpe Chase for the second successive year at Doncaster on Saturday ahead of a crack at the Crabbie's Grand National.
The nine-year-old is 10lb higher than when lifting the prize 12 months ago, but the trainer was heartened by his effort off his revised mark when third to If In Doubt in the Sky Bet Chase over three miles on Town Moor last month.
As Night In Milan was putting in his best work at the finish, Reveley has every reason to believe the extra two furlongs will once again play to his strengths.
"He's in great order. Hopefully the rain will stay away and it will be good, fast ground," said the Saltburn handler.
"He won the race last year and has gone up a lot in the weights. He ran a cracker in the Sky Bet Chase there, the extra two furlongs will help him and he loves the track.
"We're up a lot in the weights from last year, but that's for a reason. He won the race well. The pleasing thing for me was he more or less ran off his new mark last time and ran very well.
"After that, the National will be his next run. We're hoping for a good run. As long as he runs well and jumps well it will set him up nicely for the National and we'll have a go there."
Nigel Hawke is looking forward to running Samingarry as part of his preparation for the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr in April.
The eight-year-old returned from a four-month break with a respectable fifth place behind Knock A Hand at Carlisle earlier this month.
"The ground hasn't been right so we sat quiet with him over the winter months. He wants better ground," said Hawke.
"He had a nice race round Carlisle the other day and was only beaten eight and a half lengths. He'll improve for the run. Three mile two round a flat track on better ground, I would think, will be ideal for him.
"He's a fresh horse, while a lot of these will have had a lot of hard racing during the winter. Our long-term plan this season would be the Scottish National, so we're building up to that race all the time."
Nicky Richards has the Ayr showpiece in mind for Streams Of Whiskey, who is having his first run since finishing second over hurdles on this course in late November.
"He's in good order. Basically, we've been sitting it out waiting for a bit better spring-type ground through the depths of winter," said the Greystoke trainer.
"We've always had the Grimthorpe half in mind and something like the Scottish National later on. We'll get the run into him and see where we're going."
Trainer and amateur rider Mark Wall takes the mount on Theatre Queen as the mare can be troublesome at the start.
However, she is useful, having won six point-to-points and two hunter chases, as well as finishing second in a novice handicap chase at Ludlow last time.
The Cheltenham handler said: "She's done a lot of point-to-pointing, so she's had plenty of practice over jumps. She's not your average novice, so it's fingers crossed.
" It's well known she has her quirks, so she needs a bit of knowing. I'd like to be on the sidelines, to a certain degree, but I want to make sure everything goes right for her."
Jamie Poulton is expecting a good run from Farbreaga, who was an easy winner at Uttoxeter three weeks ago after an eight-week break.
The East Sussex trainer said: "We're very hopeful. He had a very bloodless victory last time. The form looks OK. He has some decent old horses to beat, but we couldn't be happier with him. We'd like a bit of rain, but I guess most of the others would, too."
William Money carries bottom weight and is 1lb out of the handicap, but trainer Chris Grant is hopeful of a decent run.
"He won last time at Kelso and sees out all of the trip," said the County Durham handler. "He seems in nice fettle so we hope he runs a nice race."
