Supreme Glory out of National

Second favourite Supreme Glory was today ruled out of the Martell Grand National.

The Coral Welsh National winner has suffered an injury and will be sidelined for the rest of the season.

Trainer Pat Murphy said: 'He`s picked up a minor tendon injury. It is very, very minor but unfortunately he will have to miss the rest of the season.

'Yesterday when I got back from Wolverhampton there was some heat in his off-fore leg so we called the vet and scanned him first thing this morning.

'It is less than 10 per cent of the circumference of the tendon that is injured which shows how minor it is but if we cary on we will make it worse.

'It isn`t stress-related as he wasn`t doing any fast work - we were only going to step him up this week as he doesn`t need a lot of work.

'He will have a six-month break and I would imagine his preparation next season will be geared to Aintree again.

'Although he is nine he has only had 17 races in his life so there are not a lot of miles onthe clock.

'It is a real kick in the teeth and it makes you appreciate days like the winning Welsh National even more.'

Murphy, who has been hit by the death of his daughter and the collapse of his marriage, took a philosophicalview of his latest setback.

'It is very sad for the owners and the staff and for the jockey Leighton Aspell - he lost his other best horse Rouble at Cheltenham last week,' he said.

'It was sickening what happened at Cheltenham to that horse and Valiramix. We will be miss a race - albeit the biggest race in the world - but at least we have still got a horse.'