It could be a Long Run National

Long Run could bypass the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup in favour of a tilt at the Grand National as connections look beyond the William Hill King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.

The Crabbie's sponsored spring highlight has long been mentioned as a potential target by Long Run's owner, Robert Waley-Cohen, and it appears as though his trainer is beginning to warm to the idea.

The Aintree marathon is a race that Nicky Henderson would dearly love to win and the reigning Champion Trainer believes that he has several possible contenders this season.

"That's something we haven't done (win the Grand National) and something we need to do; we've got two or three for that I would hope," he revealed at a William Hill sponsored press day ahead of the King George meeting.

"Most years I look at it at the start of the season and say I haven't got a Grand National horse. I could look at it this year and say I've easily got four which would be nice.

"Long Run, Triolo D'Alene, Roberto Goldback and Shakalakaboomboom who is back in training; he (Shakalakaboomboom) ran a fantastic race in it two years ago, he led over the second- last but he came back and got a leg last autumn so you never saw him.

"It's the one thing you would like to win isn't it, of course you would. It's a very special race, it's a part of history."

Long Run ran the worst race of his career on his seasonal reappearance at Wetherby in the Charlie Hall Chase but Henderson was encouraged by his fourth in the Betfair Chase.

"For what it's worth I took plenty of positives out of his run at Haydock. That was the best round of jumping we've ever seen from him and he's more than likely to get his Grand National entry that Robert (Waley-Cohen, owner) keeps telling you that he's going to have; even I would subscribe to that........now.

"If you saw what he's been jumping here since and what we've been trying to do since Wetherby. It wasn't just about one mistake, he's always had that one mistake in his vocabulary and he can always just charge at a fence a little bit.

"I thought he was miles better at Haydock, I mean his jumping was good. He's done a lot of work with Yogi Breisner and he now makes a shape over his fences for the first time."

Long Run was a brilliant winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2011 and has finished third in both subsequent runnings but his trainer revealed that he could miss this season's renewal in favour of a trip to Liverpool.

"If you were seriously talking about the Grand National, then you'd have to seriously consider whether to do the two. If you're talking Aintree then seriously do you go to Cheltenham?" he said.