Houdini on his own in Wales Operation Houdini is the only Irish-trained horse remaining in the Coral Welsh National after 33 stood their ground at the six-day entry stage for the Chepstow marathon to be run next Monday. The Davy Fitzgerald-trained gelding is currently set to carry 10st5lb, while Willie Mullins has pulled out all six of his entries; Ballytrim, Equus Maximus, Our Monty, Beroni, Arbor Supreme and Pomme Tiepy. Mullins explained: "Our Monty is lame and will be on the sidelines for a while, and Beroni could run over hurdles or we may wait for the Thyestes at Gowran." Grand National winner Mon Mome heads the weights (11st12lb) with Halcon Genelardais, winner in 2006 and second and third respectively for the last two years, just 3lb lower at 11st9lb. Le Beau Bai (10st9lb) heads ante-post lists after a sustained gamble and remains among the possibles, as does leading fancy The Tother One (11st4lb), trained by Paul Nicholls. The Tother One has been beaten into second on his first couple of outings of the campaign but Nicholls' stable jockey Ruby Walsh expects him to come into his own over Chepstow's 3m51/2f. "He's lazy and takes a bit of rousting along but the trip in the Welsh National will really suit him. He's a relatively inexperienced horse, Cheltenham was only his fourth run over fences and he will improve for that. Going left-handed around Chepstow will suit him again." He added: "He likes soft ground and he'll stay, which you have to over three miles, five furlongs there, so he has every chance." Flintoff could be the main hope for the home nation, trained by Tim Vaughan, while Companero, Silver By Nature and Gone To Lunch are other interesting contenders.
