THE Grand National weights were published on Tuesday for all 144 entries for the 40 places at Aintree on April 6.

Ferdy Murphy has seven of those entries, while a certain Martin Pipe's name is beside 16. The Irish horse Florida Pearl has top weight of 11st 12lb, while the least weight allowed to be carried is 10-0.

Streamstown and Adrian Maguire won the Singer and Friedlander National Trial in fine style on Saturday at Uttoxeter for the West Witton trainer.

Streamstown has been allocated 10-3 at Aintree and Murphy felt both he and Paris Pike on 10-8 were "quite heavy".

Ackzo and Birkdale are on 9-8, Narrow Water 9-7, Luzcadou 9-3, Paddy's Return 9-2 and The Quads 8-5.

Murphy said Paddy's Return would go for the Kim Muir at Cheltenham and the summer cross-country races rather than the National, but the rest would go if they get in.

Murphy was also on song with Granit d'Estruval at Uttoxeter, and Occando and Truckers Tavern at Towcester.

Norman Mason's National hero Red Marauder is on 10-9 this year and stable-mate Red Striker 10-8.

Richard Guest, his assistant and jockey, said last year's winner is to go for a charity flat race at Hereford a month from today, an unusual prep for the big race. Red Striker is only likely to run if Marauder is not ready.

At the bottom of the allocated weights is Brian Ellison's Tyndarius on 8-1.

This sprung a surprise on his debut at Market Rasen this week under Vinnie Keane, but the Norton trainer said another Aintree race, the John Hughes Trophy, was in his sights rather than the National.

He should run again in about a couple of weeks before taking in a Cheltenham handicap on the way.

In a Racing Channel interview on Wednesday, Mark Johnston called for more investment in all-weather racing to stop what he sees as a decline in the standard of quality.

He said that the competition had been in a downward spiral, despite the well-regarded new Polytrack surface at Lingfield.

The Middleham trainer said: "I've always given the principle of racing on dirt surfaces the thumbs up, but in recent years I have decimated the number and quality of my runners because I think the racing has gone desperately downhill."

Nevertheless, he had two winners during the week, Mazury and Takes Tutu each landing a Southwell maiden race under Keith Dalgleish.

Fellow Middleham man Patrick Haslam and Maunby handler David Barron also continued their winning streaks.

Most interestingly, Tees Components easily landed a maiden race at Lingfield on Saturday.

Although a prolific bumper winner, Mary Reveley's runner qualified for the race as the flat and jumping are different codes.

Meanwhile, the Lingdale trainer was in her usual excellent jumping form all week.

Julie Craze did not send out Tom Tun as a farewell-to-training winner on Thursday as he was beaten into third by Lynn Siddall's Superfrills.

But AA-Youknownothing, switched to Mark Buckley's yard from Julie's on her retirement, won on Friday - and surely the credit should go chiefly to her Elvington yard.

Benbyas of our 12 to follow holds an entry in tomorrow's Tote Gold Trophy Hurdle at Newbury and ante-post was 25-1 at best.

His three wins before Christmas were on good ground, while it was softer when he came third at Ascot in mid-January. With all the rain, the going may be against him as a natural front runner.

Haydock and Ayr are tomorrow's other TV meetings, while Catterick has a good card including its annual National trial.

Altapeter is down for Haydock (3.15), Fatehalkair for Catterick (3.20), while Noshinannikin holds entries in that race as well as at Ayr (1.50).

Gralmano, who raced at Lingfield down the field last Saturday, is entered there again tomorrow (4.05).

Sedgefield stages its second meeting this year on Tuesday with a seven-race card, the first at 1.50pm.

The feature race, a Showcase Handicap, is the £7,500 Tote Credit Club Hurdle, the richest race of any of the three meetings that day.

THE WEEK'S WINNERS

Key: All racing is now National Hunt (jumping) except for Flat racing on all-weather surfaces (AW); * = evening meeting; f = furlong (8f = 1 mile); chs = steeplechase; hdl = hurdle; NHf = National Hunt flat race (bumper); mdn = maiden; nov = novice; juv = juvenile; clmr = claiming race (entries can be claimed by sealed bid tenders); sllr = selling race (winner auctioned after race, other runners can be claimed); hcp = handicap; amtr = amateur riders; cond = conditional (jumps apprentice) riders; Hb = homebred by owner (or one of the owners).

Racing Week's 12 to Follow (TtF): Altapeter (Peter Beaumont); Barton (Tim Easterby); Benbyas (Les Eyre); Dibea Times (Malcolm Jefferson); Fatelhalkair (Brian Ellison); Gralmano (Kevin Ryan); Hindiana (Ferdy Murphy); Major Sponsor (George Moore); Noshinnanikin (Mick Easterby, replacing Banker Count); October Mist (Mary Reveley); Ryalux (Andy Crook); Tyneandthyneagain (Norman Mason).

Thursday last week. - Catterick: (NH nov hdl) Man Murphy (trained by Mary Reveley, at Lingdale; owned by W Manners), ridden by Andrew Garrity; (juv nov hdl) Feanor (George Moore, Middleham; Major E J Watt), Russ Garritty; (nov chs) Hunters Creek (Mary Reveley; Belwey's Hotels, Glasgow (Bsh Ltd), Patrick Aspell; (hcp chs) Forest Dante (Fred Kirby, Danby Wiske; F Kirby), Richard Guest.

Towcester: (hcp chs) Occold (Ferdy Murphy, West Witton; Exors of the late G A Hubbard), Adrian Maguire; (nov chs) Truckers Tavern (Ferdy Murphy; Mrs M B Scholey), Adrian Maguire.

Southwell AW: (8f clmr) Valdesco (Les Eyre, Hambleton; The Maynooth Men), Luke Fletcher; (8f hcp) Exclusive Air (David Barron, Maunby; Carequick Ltd (Aire Conditioning)), Dean McKeown; (8f mdn) Mazury (Mark Johnston, Middleham; Abdullah Saeed Belhab), Keith Dalgleish; (6f hcp) Superfrills (Lynn Siddall, Colton; Podso Racing), Wayne Lordan.

Friday. - Wolverhampton AW: (5f hcp) AA-Youknownothing (Mark Buckley, Upper Helmsley; T Marshall), P Bradley.

Saturday. - Uttoxeter: (Listed Showcase Hcp) Streamstown (Ferdy Murphy; Haydock Park National Hunt Partnership), Adrian Maguire; (nov sllr hdl) Rocky Island (Mary Reveley; Hb, W G McHarg), Andrew Garrity (winner sold for 5,000gns after); (nov hdl) Granit d'Estruval (Ferdy Murphy; W J Gott), JP McNamara.

Lingfield AW: (12f mdn div 2) Tees Components (Mary Reveley; Tees Components Ltd), Ollie Pears.

Monday. - Musselburgh: (hcp hdl) Petunse (Mary Reveley; Chicken Kiev Syndicate), Patrick Aspell; (NHf) Enchancer (Alan Swinbank, Melsonby; K Elliott), T Doyle.

Wolverhampton AW: (16f hcp) Welsh Dream (Patrick Haslam, Middleham; Mrs B M Hawkins & Mrs C Barclay), Lee Enstone.

Tuesday. - Market Rasen (hcp chs) Tyndarius (Brian Ellison, Norton; Alex Shaw), Vinnie Keane.

Southwell AW: (16f amtr hcp) Positive Profile (Patrick Haslam; Chelgate Public Relations Ltd), Mrs Carol Williams; (7f mdn) Takes Tutu (Mark Johnston; C M, B J & R F Batterham II), Keith Dalgleish; (8f hcp) Toejam (Ron Barr, Seamer; Hb, Mrs R E Barr), David Kinsella; (6f cndns), Game Guru (David Barron; Mrs J Hazell), Dean Mernagh.

Wednesday. - No DST area winners at Ludlow or Lingfield.