Moloney has ridden his Evan Williams-trained stablemate to be placed in the last three renewals and he admits that passing him over this year was very hard.

The deciding factor was that both horses are owned by the Rucker family, meaning his loyalty was not being called into question.

"State Of Play has been fourth, third and fourth, so he's got a great record around there. It was a hard decision but I was lucky that William and Angela Rucker own both horses, that made it a bit easier, I wouldn't be doing it otherwise, even for the favourite," said Moloney.

"The simple fact is they own Cappa so that made it easier. He had a bit of a blip and things didn't go quite right for him for a while but he's back now, his form this season has been rock solid.

"He won at Haydock, ran very well at Chepstow on heavy ground which he didn't like at all and his last run at Ascot was very encouraging, I was really happy with him and he's been trained for Aintree.

"The boss is sweet so I'm going on that as well. He didn't give me any feel at Chepstow on heavy ground yet still finished third (in the Welsh National). He's got a bit of class and a bit of pace. You need a lot of luck in the National but he ticks a lot of the boxes."

Fehily Primed

Noel Fehily is the man who comes in for the ride on State Of Play and not surprisingly he is looking forward to it.

"He's been around a few times, he's been third and fourth and knows his way around so I'm hoping for a good ride," he told At The Races.

"I'll try not to interfere with him, he knows his way around and I'll just hang on to his neck and he'll take me round."