'He's a young horse who is up and coming' - could Gary Moore dare to live the Gold Cup dream with Nassalam?

The extraordinary way Nassalam landed the Welsh Grand National on Wednesday means connections could enter him in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup on Tuesday.

Owned by John and Yvonne Stone, Nassalam won Chepstow's trial for its feature race earlier in December before producing a memorable performance on attritional ground under conditional jockey Caoilin Quinn, coming home 34 lengths in front of Iron Bridge.

He did that from a mark of 145, although was due to go up 4lb in any case.

Trainer Gary Moore, however, is waiting to see what mark the Dream Well gelding gets on Tuesday morning before deciding which path to take.

The Gold Cup takes place on March 15 and it would cost £780 to enter him on Tuesday. The Randox Grand National the following month remains the primary objective.

Moore said: "He's come out of the Welsh National okay, but he was a bit tired as you'd expect. He exercised on Saturday morning, and we'll have to see what happens to his mark now before we decide where we go next. I'm not quite sure and if he gets a mark that warrants him being in the Gold Cup, we might make an entry." 

Nassalam can be backed at 40-1 with Paddy Power for the Gold Cup and is a general 25-1 for the National on April 13.

The West Sussex-based Moore, who is enjoying a purple patch with his string, added: "I could see him nearly being rated 160 and what would you do then? It's not a mark for a handicap and if you need to run in a better-class race you need to be entered. 

"I'd have laughed if you'd said I would be thinking of entering him in a Gold Cup six months ago, but I keep looking at the race and he'd be taking on a lot of older horses who might be past their sell-by date. He's a young horse who is up and coming.

"To see him run well in a Gold Cup he'd need very bad ground though."

Read these next:

'The best day of my life' - Nassalam routs Welsh Grand National rivals on memorable day for Gary Moore yard 

'Aintree could be something we look at' - Iron Bridge no match for Nassalam but given Grand National aim by Jonjo O'Neill 

Gary Moore plots first Grand National mission and celebrates with owner who 'died twice' on day of incredible treble 

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