Jack may bid for Gold

Sue Smith’s Artic Jack, one of the front-runners in the betting for the Martell Cognac Grand National, could well take his chance in the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Artic Jack, who carries the colours of leading owner Trevor Hemmings, inflicted a first defeat on the highly-regarded Kingscliff in the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock Park last month.

The National was immediately nominated as a likely target, but that was before the weights for the Aintree marathon were announced.

Said Mrs Smith’s husband, Harvey: “We will see how he runs in the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup at Haydock in a fortnight’s time.

“But it might be better to take in the Gold Cup (rather than the National), he is only 8lb behind First Gold at Aintree and he could well end up carrying top weight there so we will see.”

Mrs Smith’s other likely Festival raiders include Mister McGoldrick who gained his third success from six starts this season under 7lb claiming conditional Jimmy Ryan in the Dawn Homes Novices’ Chase at Ayr on Saturday.

Smith (Harvey) went on: “He will run in the Arkle and he could do with another run before. Simply Supreme and Royal Emperor will go for the SunAlliance Chase.”