Coral Welsh Grand National betting: Super Survivor heads market after Monbeg Genius withdrawal

Super Survivor leads the Coral Welsh Grand National betting odds at 9/2 after ante-post favourite Monbeg Genius was scratched from the race due to a foot abscess.

The chaser had led the market since a fine third in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury and appeared to have plenty of the required attributes for the Chepstow marathon.

However, his name was not among the 22 who remain in contention for the December 27 showpiece and trainer Jonjo O’Neill admitted the timing of the foot issue could not be worse.

“He’s got an abscess so he won’t be ready in time, unfortunately,” said O’Neill. “He did pick up a few cuts at Newbury, but it’s nothing to do with them, they’d all cleared up. If it’s not one thing, it’s another thing.

“It’s very annoying but when they are not right you can’t run them. He’ll be all right but it’s just the wrong time. Unfortunately I didn’t tell him he was running!

“We might have a look at the Classic Chase at Warwick or the race at Lingfield (Fleur de Lys Chase). I’m not really thinking to be honest, I just want to get him back.”

Jamie Snowden’s Super Survivor was last seen finishing second to stablemate Git Maker on his seasonal reappearance at Lingfield, and with that run under his belt, he looks to be a serious contender for Wales’ biggest race.

O’Neill is still likely to be represented in the race by Iron Bridge, who also holds an entry in Wetherby’s Rowland Meyrick Chase on Boxing Day.

“He’ll go to Chepstow all being well. I put him in at Wetherby because you never know with the weather and one thing or another, but Chepstow was always the plan,” he said.

“He didn’t run great the last day, it was maybe a combination of the trip being a bit sharp on decent ground.