HENRIETTA Knight, trainer of last month's Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, can complete an outstanding double with Chives in tomorrow's Martell Cognac Grand National.

The 10-1 shot will be ridden by jockey-turned-trainer Richard Guest, who has two of his own horses in the 40-strong field.

Guest, who received his training licence less than two months ago, wouldn't normally be able to ride against horses he trains, but he was granted special one-off dispensation by the Jockey Club to partner Chives in tomorrow's showpiece event.

A high-class novice last season, Chives has done nothing this term to tarnish his reputation, finishing a creditable second in three of his four races, including the Welsh National, under top-weight of 11st 12lb, before producing a mighty effort to finish seventh to his stablemate Best Mate in the Gold Cup.

A horse with a high cruising speed, Chives is a sound jumper, who looks the type to get into the crucial right rhythm required around this unique course.

Whether he'll stay four-and-a-half miles is anyone's guess, but his style of running and pedigree suggests he has as good a chance as any horse tackling this marathon trip for the first time.

Both of Guest's runners, Red Stiker and Red Ark are not without chances, but my preference is for the former, the mount of amateur Larry McGrath, who is the winner of ten races, including a Grade 2 event at Haydock last season. This step up in distance should suit him nicely.

Ruby Walsh had the tricky choice of selecting his Grand National mount between stablemates Shotgun Willy and Ad Hoc, and significantly came down in favour of the former, who made a victorious return to action at Haydock last month.

A high-class performer, Shotgun Willy has been prepared specifically for the Grand National, but then so too has Ad Hoc, who was travelling well until being brought down in the race last year.

Paul Carberry, successful on Bobbyjo in 2000, renews his acquaintance with the Paul Nicholls-trained gelding and is confident of enjoying a good ride.

Andrew Thornton has strong claims on Gingembre, who will relish the good ground and would only need to reproduce his cracking effort the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup earlier in the season to play a starring role.

An outsider with a big chance - provided he stays - is Yorkshire hope Goguenard, trained at Bingley by Sue Smith and her husband, Harvey, the former top show-jumper.

An unlucky loser at Cheltenham last month, when he blundered and unseated his rider at the penultimate fence, Gogeunard is normally a sound jumper.

The big doubt is whether this two-and-a-half miler will stay this extreme distance, but I consider him worth chancing each-way at odds of around 25-1.

Wonder Weasel is another long-priced horse with a fighting chance of reaching the money. He ran a cracking race behind Shotgun Willy at Haydock last month and will relish tomorrow's expected good ground.

Youlneverwalkalone, a gutsy winner at Cheltenham last month, has strong claims on paper, while Behrajan and Iris Bleu, the mount of Tony McCoy also come into the reckoning in what looks a wide-open race.

Tom O'Ryan's top four for Saturday's Martell Grand National are:

1 - Chives (Nap)

2 - Youlneverwalkalone

3 - Goguenard

4 - Wonder Weasel

Updated: 12:28 Friday, April 04, 2003