Ted Walsh is gearing up for his first ever runner at Warwick with stable star Any Second Now in line for the Wigley Group Classic Handicap Chase.
The horse's owner J P McManus won the three mile, five furlong contest with Kimberlite Candy in 2020 and there was a notable winner in 2017 when subsequent Grand National hero One For Arthur struck gold for Lucinda Russell.
Any Second Now's trainer Walsh has confirmed the 12-year-old to be in good shape for the test.
Placed in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Grand National at Aintree, he was a well-held seventh on his seasonal debut at Navan in December but is expected to appreciate the return to a much longer trip this weekend.
Walsh said on Monday's Nicky Luck Daily Podcast: "I've never had a runner at Warwick and I've never been to Warwick but it's a race I've often watched. It suits the National horses, there's a lot of jumping and you really have to stay there which I think will suit him.
"I'm very limited to what I can do here (in Ireland), he's not good enough for the better races and I ran him at Navan off 150 and he's now rated 148. If I didn't run him there (Warwick) I'd go to the Thyestes, but the Thyestes is often very heavy ground and it's competitive.
"So Warwick is definitely on the agenda. He's now 12 years of age, he's a pensioner, and I haven't any aspirations of him being a live contender for the National, but I think he's quite capable of winning a race somewhere.
"I need a lot of help (from the handicapper) - he's been a good consistent horse but he's not what he used to be which is what you'd expect. He crawled up the handicap through his good runs in the National but I don't think he was ever quite as high as the English handicapper rated him. I never thought he was a Grade 1 horse.
"He's been a great servant and I like to think there's a good race for him somewhere, so I put him in at Warwick as the conditions of the race will suit him."
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