Special Tiara serves up Aintree shock Special Tiara became the latest winner to leave punters tearing their formbooks up on Grand National Day as he struck under substitute jockey Bryan Cooper in the John Smith's Maghull Novices' Chase. Overturn and Jason Maguire were initially challenged by the winner in the early stages of the two-mile contest but took up the running from halfway and gradually wound up the gallop, kicking on around the home turn. That burst of acceleration left favourite Alderwood outpaced and he was always fighting a losing battle from that point under Tony McCoy despite running on for the third place. However that was a better performance than from another of the market-leaders, Baily Green, who jumped out to his right from the start and was always detached in rear. Special Tiara forfeited second place to Sire De Grugy over the second-last fence and looked a most unlikely scorer at that point, but he stayed on dourly again from the last to reel in the leader and score by a length and three-quarters. "Bryan gave him a super ride - we only drafted him in this morning when it became obvious that Andrew [Lynch] couldn't ride as a result of his injury," said trainer Henry de Bromhead. "He's a bit of a tearaway and we mainly just school him at home, but that obviously counted there with his jumping. "He's a big galloping horse who loves his jumping and I am delighted for his owner Sally Rowley-Williams."
