Fergal O’Brien believes both Alvarado and Perfect Candidate will go to this year’s Grand National with a genuine chance of victory.
O’Brien has been onboard Alvarado for the last two renewals of the world famous steeplechase and has managed to place fourth on each occasion.
The 10-year-old looks likely to head to Aintree for a third crack at the National and could be joined on Merseyside by rising star Perfect Candidate, who demonstrated his credentials with victory at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.
O’Brien hopes that should the nine-year-old show up well in his next outing then he could be primed for success at the Grand National in April.
“We are going to enter him in the Grand National and he will have a race somewhere in between that,” said O’Brien.
“He will be entered in the Scottish National as well. He has come out the race at Cheltenham well and we were delighted with that.”
On Alvarado, O’Brien added: “Alvarado is in great form. We will just keep tipping away with him and find something in the middle of February for him.
“In an ideal world, I’d love to get two runs into him. We might go back to Doncaster for the same veterans’ chase he ran in last year.”
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