Kalderon handed Aintree mission

Kalderon is set to tackle fellow Irish raider Al Eile in the Scottish And Newcastle Pub Enterprises Aintree Hurdle on Saturday.

Tom Hogan’s charge had little trouble seeing off his sole rival in a Grade Three at Fairyhouse last time but will obviously find things much tougher this weekend.

However, he does tend to reserve his best form for this time of year and chased home the top-class Glencove Marina at the Punchestown Festival last spring.

“It looks like he’ll travel,” said Hogan. “It isn’t often that we get lucky enough to get opportunities like that at Fairyhouse.

“His run at Dundalk was good behind Harchibald and we thought he was coming to himself. He’d had two separate operations last year and that knocked him back a bit, he was never right. He was still second to Glencove Marina at Punchestown though.

“He seems a bit better this year so we’d be hoping for a good run. He’s a much better horse on good ground and hopefully the flat track should suit him well so we’re looking for a big run on Saturday.”