Merry King out of Grand National Merry King has been ruled out of the Crabbie's Grand National with a breathing problem. The eight-year-old, trained by Jonjo O'Neill, was around 25-1 for the Aintree spectacular on Saturday week. "Merry King's not running in the National. He's got a breathing problem," said O'Neill's nephew, Joe. Merry King was third in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in late November, but was pulled up over hurdles on his comeback run at the same track in early February. The O'Neill stable have the ante-post favourite in Shutthefrontdoor, who will bid to give Tony McCoy a fairtytale victory in his final ride in the world's greatest steeplechase before he retires.
