Waining doubles up in Topham Always Waining once again showed his love for the Grand National fences when taking the John Smith's Topham Chase for the second successive year. The 14/1 chance was first reserve for the National itself until this morning but was allowed to take his chance in the Topham after the 9am deadline for him to get a run in the National passed. Heavily-backed favourite Mon Parrain (7/2) looked the likely winner when cruising into the lead in the straight, and he appeared to have sealed victory with a fine jump at the final obstacle. However, his petrol tank soon emptied on the famous long run-in and Always Waining struck the front at the Elbow before pulling clear for a four length win in hands of Tom O'Brien. The Willie Mullins-trained Scotsirish (20/1) was another six lengths back in third, with Noel Glynn's Gonebeyondrecall (33/1) fourth. O'Brien said: "Unbelievable. He never knows when he's beaten. I must thank Mr Bowen very much for letting me ride him. I thought I was only going to finish second but he just comes alive when he hears the cheers. As soon as he heard the crowd he took off." Trainer Peter Bowen added: "He's just brilliant round here. He just loves this place. He ran so well last time over hurdles so we were happy with him all the way. "It's unlucky he didn't get in the National tomorrow but this is good compensation. He absolutely loves this place. Hopefully we'll be back next year. He's a star." Paul Nicholls said of Mon Parrain: "It was a great run for a five-year-old. Ruby gave him a bit of a breather and maybe he was just doing too much and ran out of petrol. "It was a close call whether to run here or in Denman's race yesterday and I'm not sure what his trip is. We'll look after him and probably start him off over two and a half miles next year."
