Grand National hero Corach Rambler set for Kelso comeback as Lucinda Russell eyes shot at Betfair Chase

Grand National hero Corach Rambler will start his season at Kelso on Saturday with trainer Lucinda Russell hoping it can tee up a shot at next month's Grade 1 Betfair Chase.

Russell has elected the 3m2f Edinburgh Gin Chase (2.50) as a starting point for the nine-year-old in preference to a chase at Cheltenham on the same day.

The Kelso race's status as a limited handicap means Corach Rambler will not have to concede as much weight to the opposition on his first start since striking at Aintree in April. He was raised 13lb for his National win.

Corach Rambler – who is also a back-to-back winner of the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival – has never competed at jump racing's top level but a good performance this weekend will book his ticket to Haydock on November 25. He was trimmed to 6-1 (from 8) for the race with bet365 after it was revealed as a target on Wednesday.

"It's great to have him back, " said Russell. "It'll be interesting to see how he comes back, he's been away and had a racecourse gallop at Ayr so he should be pretty straight for it. It's just a case of getting him going and then we can make a plan for the rest of the season but we've got in our minds to go to Haydock so it'd be nice to get a good run out of him.

"It was better to go to Kelso than Cheltenham because it was a limited handicap rather than an ordinary handicap and we've gone up so much in the handicap I wanted to avoid giving a lot of weight away. That's another reason to look at the Betfair Chase."

Your Own Story was sent off 4-1 favourite when trying to give the Russell yard a National double in the Scottish version at Ayr a week after Corach Rambler, but finished a respectable sixth. He could represent the yard at Cheltenham in the absence of his stablemate.

Iroko: chase debut could come at Wetherby next weekCredit: John Grossick

Cheltenham Festival winner Iroko could miss an early-season showdown with Flooring Porter in the 3m½f novice chase with conditions potentially too quick for last season's Martin Pipe winner.

The Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero-trained runner is among Britain's leading novice chase prospects this season, having followed up his big handicap success with a solid third in the Grade 1 Sefton at Aintree in April, but a highly anticipated chase debut could be delayed until Wetherby next week Friday.

Greenall said of JP McManus's prospect: "I think it's going to be too quick on Saturday sadly. We'd like to run but if the ground dried up anymore we'd have to leave it. We'll decide in the morning, there's bits of rain about so we'll see. He's very exciting. He seems like he'll be a lot better as a chaser than a hurdler."

The going at Cheltenham on Wednesday was good to soft, good in places.

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