Ballabriggs is set to remain over hurdles for the time being with the Grand National the long term aim for Donald McCain's charge.
Ballabriggs set to stay hurdling until National weights revealed
Grand National hope Ballabriggs looks set to have another outing over hurdles following his victorious seasonal return at Wincanton on Saturday.
The 10-year-old was switched back to the smaller obstacles at the West Country venue and duly opened his account over timber when holding off the challenge of Ohio Gold by nearly three lengths.
Trainer Donald McCain was delighted to see him score on his first outing since winning the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival last March and will look for another opportunity over hurdles while waiting for the weights for the John Smith's-sponsored Aintree heat to be confirmed.
"He's in great form, no problems at all, he ate up last night and didn't have a hard race really - it was just the job," he said.
"It was a good start for him and just what we wanted so we will try to find him another similar race over the next few weeks now.
"We still have a while before the National weights come out so there's no reason not to have another run so we'll just try to find him another hurdle somewhere.
"We didn't try him too much over hurdles before as he wasn't that kind of horse but it's nice to get a win with him and it's good to have the option of hurdles now."
Ballabriggs is a 20-1 chance with totesport for the National on April 9 but McCain has yet to decide when and where he will return to fences.
"The National remains the plan but as the programme book was out late, I haven't really had chance to plot out his return over fences so we'll be talking about that over the next few weeks," he explained.
Peddlers update
McCain is currently putting the finishing touches to Peddlers Cross' preparations as he gears up for the StanJames.com Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock on January 22.
The six-year-old made quite a splash when landing the Fighting Fifth on his return and while he holds an entry in the Irish Champion Hurdle later this month, Haydock is the preferred option.
"He worked yesterday and he worked really well," McCain added.
"Haydock is still the plan, we just entered him in Ireland in case something went wrong at Haydock and they had to abandon, but they are fine."
