John McConnell will work backwards with Mahler Mission from his ultimate aim of the Grand National at Aintree in the spring.

The eight-year-old was last seen finishing a gallant second in the Coral Gold Cup, missing out by three and three-quarter lengths after losing both shoes during the three-mile two-furlong trip around Newbury.

The Grand National was mentioned in the aftermath of that race, with the gelding usually a fluent jumper who looked poised to triumph in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham last year until falling at the penultimate fence, having pulled four lengths clear.

Connections have now decided to pursue the Aintree aim and Mahler Mission may even have a start over hurdles to protect his mark of 155 ahead of the marathon contest.

“He’s in good form, he had a good break after the Coral and he’s back riding out now,” said McConnell.

“It was a good race, horses have won out of it since and we were very, very happy on the day. Hopefully, there’s a bit more to come.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a clear run with him; he’ll miss Cheltenham and the target will be the National.

“He should be on a nice racing weight, it’s the Grand National and we could get him there and then anything could happen on the day, but he’s entitled to take his chance.

“He ticks a lot of the boxes for the race, he’s still a relatively young horse and he’d certainly be worth his place in the field.

“We’ve not got a plan yet, I’d have to sit down and try and find a race for him before and see what there is about.

“It wouldn’t bother us if we went back over hurdles, that’s definitely an option.”