Connections are confident Gaboriot has improved for his run at Aintree last month ahead of his return to the famous fences in Saturday's Boylesports Becher Chase.
Josh Guerriero and Oliver Greenall's charge finished third behind King Turgeon in the Grand Sefton Chase in November and while the reopposing winner currently heads the ante-post market, Guerriero believes the extra distance of Saturday's race could swing things in their favour.
"Gaboriot is in very good form and has definitely improved to look at since the Grand Sefton. All of our horses tend to improve for a run so there is no reason why he should be any different. You can see that at home - he looks a lot sharper," he said.
“We were very happy with his run in the Grand Sefton. He looked like he needed further that day and I think softer ground will help him too, which he should get on Saturday. It’s not ideal that he is out of the handicap but there are not many opportunities like this so we have to have a go. You would sometimes put a claiming jockey on to try and level it out at the weights but we couldn’t take Henry (Brooke) off of him.”
As to future plans for Gaboriot this season, Guerriero added: “It will be hard to get him in the Randox Grand National as he does need to go up plenty in the weights - if he did get high enough it is definitely something we would look at.
“The long-term plan could possibly be the Freebooter Handicap Chase at the Grand National Meeting in April as I know his owner (Guy Myddelton) would love to have a runner in that.
"The Cross Country race at the Cheltenham Festival could also be a target.”
More from Sporting Life
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
