Trainer Ben Pauling has confirmed that his long-term plan for this season is to run Silvergrove in the 2017 Grand National.
The eight-year-old is yet to make his bow this term, with his last competitive race coming at the Cheltenham Festival in March, where he secured a third-place finish in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase.
Pauling has now confirmed that the bay gelding is likely to make his first appearance of the season at Warwick early next month, while the Becher Chase at Aintree is also on the cards.
“I'm looking at starting him off in a three-and-a-quarter-mile novice hurdle at Warwick on November 4 because he's still a novice over hurdles,” said Pauling. “His big aim in the first half of the season is the Becher.”
The Gloucestershire-based trainer admits his ultimate ambition for Silvergrove is next year's Grand National, as he holds a genuine belief that the horse can win the prestigious race at Aintree.
He added: “I've only got one thing on my mind for him this year and that's the National – I think he's made for the race. He needs to go up four or five pounds to be sure of a run in it, so hopefully he'd go well in the Becher to do that and then we can mind him.”
