Paul Nolan is waiting to see if his Discorama, seventh to Minella Times in the Grand National last season, makes the cut for the 2022 edition
The nine-year-old prepared well for Aintree with a second in the Fairyhouse Easter Festival 16th-18th April Rated Chase.
Nolan is hoping that the chaser who has finished runner-up in five of his 12 stars can scrape into the Aintree spectacle.
Nolan said: "It is a bit frustrating as he has only won two races in his life and he is nine years of age.
"He has run so many good races but he always seems to find a way of getting beaten.
"Yesterday it was only a length and he was very unlucky. He was unlucky at Galway last year, too.
"But he still ran very well and it was encouraging to see. He has come out of it well.
"The wind op seems to be working, as it was a last-car-on-the-road job."
Discorama was a well-backed third in the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2020, and the thorough stayer still has the option of going to the Festival next month.
However, his target is the National.
Nolan added: "We will see what happens - the weights are out for the Grand National on Tuesday and we will see what sort of a chance he has of getting into that.
"He didn't do himself any harm yesterday, but it is hard to know what the handicapper will do, especially when a horse gets to a certain age. Blaklion (a then-12-year-old) was a place in front of him at Aintree. They dropped him 10lb this season and he has won two chases since. It all depends on how the handicapper assesses it.
"There will be other horses coming up through the handicap that would maybe be higher-rated than him.
"We'll see what happens on Tuesday, but the plan will be to go to Aintree if he gets in. We will then make our mind up about Cheltenham."
