Gonalston Cloud looks set to feature in a couple of Nationals this spring, trainer Nick Kent has confirmed.
The 10-year-old stayer produced a good performance at Musselburgh last weekend when finishing second to Dancing Shadow in the inaugural running of the Edinburgh National despite losing a shoe.
And it has led to Kent looking at possible outings in the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter on March 18 and the Scottish Grand National at Ayr on April 22, depending on the conditions.
The Lincolnshire handler said: “He’s bounced out of the race, he’s absolutely fine.
“He lost a hind shoe in the race but I don’t know how much difference it made. Had it been a front shoe I’d have thought it would have made more difference.
“He ran very well and I’m really pleased with him. He missed the third last and had to go around horses and lost a bit of momentum, but that’s racing.
“I’m going to enter him for the Midlands National and the Scottish National. Obviously the ground is going to be a bit of an issue as it looks like he just wants decent ground. We ran him on softer ground and he hated it.
“We’ll enter him in both races and just see what the weather does.
“There is a shortage of that type of race for him. There aren’t many four-mile races around especially for a horse of his rating so we were lucky that Musselburgh put that one on.”
