Denis O'Regan expects to be fit for the John Smith's Grand National meeting at Aintree next month, despite a back injury.

The Irish jockey, who mainly rides for trainer Howard Johnson and owner Graham Wylie, missed his mounts at Sedgefield yesterday in order to undergo a thorough examination.

"He had a fall last week at Ayr and while he has been riding since, it has been giving him a lot of pain," explained O'Regan's agent Richard Hale.

"It is good news though. He's having a MRI scan tomorrow, but he's been to see a specialist in Middlesbrough who believes he has only bruised a couple of vertebra and expects him to be OK for Aintree."