Athlone jockey warms up for Grand National ride with third in Aintree Hurdle

Athlone jockey Kielan Woods steered outsider Millers Bank to a third place finish today in the Aintree Hurdle, the centrepiece hurdle race of the Grand National festival.

Woods was on board the Alex Hales trained seven-year-old as the 80/1 outsider of the field made light of the odds to finish third in the hotly-contested Betway Aintree Hurdle.

The race was won by Denise Foster’s charge Abacadabras, ridden by Jack Kennedy. Abacadabras was a faller in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Woods will hope his Liverpool luck will hold out until Saturday where he is pencilled in for his first Grand National.

He is lined up for the ride on another outsider, Ami Desbois, currently quoted at 100/1, for trainer Graeme McPherson in the showpiece Randox Grand National (5.15pm on Saturday)