RACING: Val d'Alene stays home

Francois Doumen's Val d'Alene will miss both the Gold Cup and the Grand National. The nine-year-old has attracted quiet but sustained support in the market for the Cheltenham race but Ian Williams, Doumen's assistant, said yesterday: "He had a long hard season in France before running in England this winter. He deserves a rest now."

Doumen, who won the Gold Cup in 1994 with The Fellow, will not have a runner in next month's event because Algan, another of his top chasers, was pulled out earlier this year.

Party Politics runner-up in last year's Grand National, is to reappear at Haydock next Saturday in the Greenalls Grand National Trial, Nick Gaselee's stable confirmed yesterday.