Hedge still hunting for Aintree glory

Hedgehunter is still on target for the John Smith’s Grand National despite taken out of the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the latest forfeit stage.

The Trevor Hemmings-owned 11-year-old has a fantastic record over the Aintree fences and wrote his name into the history books with one of the most impressive performances in recent years when he beat Royal Auclair by 14 lengths in 2005.

He was in better form than ever last season and chased home War Of Attrition in the Gold Cup before finishing second to Numbersixvalverde under top weight back at Aintree three weeks later.

Hedgehunter has only had one run over hurdles so far this season and a slight knee problem means he will bypass Cheltenham this time around.

“He’s just doing a lot of swimming and a lot of slow exercise at the moment but we are just going to skip Cheltenham and head for Aintree and hopefully I will get another run into him beforehand,” revealed trainer Willie Mullins.

“At the moment he is sound and well and the last report we got from the vet was good.

“But we have decided to just take the precaution of skipping Cheltenham in the hope that he is 100% for the National.

“It doesn’t really matter whether his next run is over hurdles or fences but it will probably be over hurdles, just to blow the cobwebs away.

“He has just had a sore knee, which is serious enough for a steeplechaser, but we are going to give it all the time we can to get over it so we can get him to Aintree.

“The one race we aim for every year with him is the National but we have been fortunate enough in the past to pick off some other targets along the way.

“But this year we have just had a little setback.”

Hedgehunter is 16-1 with Stan James and VC Bet for the Grand National on April 14.