Iris team eyeing hurdles spin

Sean Curran is planning to give his surprise Scottish Grand National winner Iris de Balme a spin over hurdles ahead of his first possible chase assignment in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury.

Next year’s Grand National at Aintree is a long-term aim for the gelding, who gave the jump jockey-turned trainer and his owner and landlord Lee Power a memorable day in Scotland in April when striking at 66-1.

He also won the Kent National and finished fourth in the bet365 Gold Cup when sent off favourite a week after his Ayr triumph.

Curran said: “He’s great and I might give him a run in a three-mile hurdle at Warwick next month. He will have an entry in the Hennessy, so we’ll see what happens.”