Can Dermot Weld conquer Aintree?

He makes Galway look like his home gallop, has won the Irish Derby at the Curragh twice, has been successful in Newmarket's 2000 Guineas and once won the final leg of the American Triple Crown.

The aptly named Rare Holiday ensured his name would forever be on the Cheltenham Hall Of Fame and, perhaps most notably, he's been to Melbourne and plundered Australia's top horse racing purse - twice!

Next on the agenda for the tirelessly ambitious Dermot Weld is the Aintree Grand National and this afternoon he will be represented by the classy Majestic Concorde.

Weld doesn't do token gestures and though the eight-year-old bay gelding may have failed to justify favouritism in last summer's Galway Plate, he made amends when taking the valuable and ultra-competitive Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting.

That victory came as a surprise to many as it had been presumed that the horse would not handle such testing ground. Not only did he manage to cope with conditions, he raced through them to see off one of today's rivals, Becauseicouldntsee, with something to spare.

Back on his favoured fast ground this afternoon, he must now show the doubters that he has the stamina for this marathon trip. The stats tell us that he's too young and too inexperienced for this test but Weld has continuously broken moulds and trampled new paths on his way to worldwide success.

In light of what he has achieved throughout a career bound by no borders, these fences seem somehow less formidable. Is Becher's Brook more daunting than Belmont? Or The Chair more insurmountable than Melbourne? Take all those stats and those records amassed over more than 170 years - all those things that say Majestic Concorde cannot win today - and chuck them in the bin.

A victory for Majestic Concorde would be further gloss on a CV requiring little embellishment and, if it happens, I'll be very interested to know what he intends to conquer next.