Nassalam has the Welsh Grand National in his sights again this season and could return to the scene of his finest hour with an outing in the Native River Chase at Chepstow on Saturday.
The Gary and Josh Moore-trained chestnut won the Christmas showpiece by a runaway 34 lengths last season when coping better than any other horse with the heavy ground as only five runners finished.
His next port of call was the Cheltenham Gold Cup, where he was pulled up four fences from home, before turning his attention to the Grand National at Aintree in April.
There he finished 18th under Caoilin Quinn, ending the season on a mark of 158 having started out rated 142.
Handicaps are still on the agenda for the first half of the season, however, with Nassalam holding an entry over nearly three miles at the Monmouthshire circuit at the weekend.
āHeās been very well, heās in good old form but while he had a good season last season, it was a bad season in terms of his handicap mark,ā said Josh Moore.
āWeāll see where heās at when he starts back. Heās in good shape, weāll start back and see, heāll only be running if the ground is slow enough for him.
āThe plan is the Welsh National, weād like to get a couple of runs into him and then thatās the short-term target.
āMaybe theyāre right about his mark but it was very circumstantial, it was very heavy ground (at Chepstow) and he won by a heavy ground distance, I donāt think many got round and that reflected the conditions that day.
āHis rise was high enough so hopefully he can prove to be good enough, we will end up finding out.ā
Towards the other end of the distance spectrum the Moore team have a nice prospect in Too Soon, a Too Darn Hot juvenile who won the Betfred Derby āWild Cardā EBF Conditions Stakes when last seen.
The bay colt holds an entry for the Group Three Zetland Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday but is not guaranteed to start.
āHe won really well last time, weāre not sure if heāll run yet as it will depend on a few things,ā said Moore.
āHe seems in good form since he won at Epsom and itād be good to run him once more before the season is out.
āWith a horse like him there are not too many options now over his trip but he would appreciate the ground at Newmarket if it is slow so he may run ā heās in good shape.ā
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