King Turgeon Grand National tilt could be in the pipeline

David Pipe admits there is “a discussion to be had” regarding a possible tilt at the Grand National with King Turgeon following his latest victory at Cheltenham on Friday.

The six-year-old has made a flying start to his campaign, dominating his rivals on his reappearance at Chepstow before striking gold over the Grand National fences in the Grand Sefton last month.

He was all set for a return to Aintree before Storm Darragh forced the Becher Chase to be abandoned and he was quickly re-routed to Cheltenham, where he completed his hat-trick in fine style.

With a revised mark of 139, King Turgeon will almost certainly need a further hike in the weights to guarantee himself a place in the world’s most famous steeplechase in April, but Pipe – who won the Grand National with Comply Or Die in 2008 – believes there could still be more improvement in his progressive grey.

“We haven’t done much with him since, he’s been out in the field and he seems fine,” the Pond House handler said on Tuesday morning.

“The owner is going to come to the yard and we’ll have a discussion about where we’re going to go. I thought it was a good performance in the Grand Sefton, but he put in another career-best the other day and he’s obviously young and improving.

“There’s definitely a discussion to be had (about the Grand National). Jumping is one of his fortes, he’s strengthened up a lot and he showed a lot of courage to get back up the other day.

“He’d have to go and win again for us to be able to even think about the National and I haven’t even had a look at the programme book for his next race yet, so we’ll see.”