Rear Admiral team plotting Aintree raid with Topham target

Aintree dreams of one sort or another have been on the minds of many this week, and with a win in the feature 2m5f chase, Rear Admiral sparked some of his own.

The Michael Easterby-trained 11-year-old jumped brilliantly to win what was a qualifier for the Challenger Middle Distance Chase Series Final at Haydock over Easter weekend, defeating Saffron Wells by six lengths at odds of 16-1.

Assistant trainer David Easterby was on hand and said: "If he wins another race and is good enough, he might get in the Topham, that's the plan. He's such a good jumper, we think he's the kind of horse who's big enough and bold enough to do it.