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Favourite Iroko was fourth, ahead of Meetingofthewaters.

McManus is seeking a record fourth victory for an owner in the race with I Am Maximus, and he also has leading hopefuls Iroko and Perceval Legallois.

Iroko has been aimed at the race all season by Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero, while the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Beauport will carry the colours of Bryan Burrough, whose Corbiere won in 1983 as Jenny Pitman became the first female trainer to triumph.

Believers say the spirits usually live in baobab or Iroko trees, considered the most sacred, and are places where priests perform the rituals, such as drinking blessed water or gin, eating cola nuts or sitting in a sacred spot, such as inside a tree.

Known as Abiku and Ogbanje respectively by the two ethnic groups, these children were believed, by the Yoruba, to belong to a coven of demons living in large iroko and baobab trees.