TIGER ROLL is being lined up for a shock return to Cheltenham.
Fans thought they had seen the last of the two-time Grand National hero and five-time Festival winner when he was beaten 92 lengths in the Betway Bowl at Aintree last April.
However Gordon Elliott’s 11-year-old has been back in work for a month and is pencilled in for his first run since in a Grade 3 handicap chase on Sunday.
He is one of eight Elliott entries for the three-day meeting at Prestbury Park, which starts on Friday.
Elliott said: “We will give him a piece of work and see how he goes in that before deciding whether he will travel over to Cheltenham. It will depend how he is.
“We all know he’s not getting any younger. It’s probably fanciful to think he’s as good as he once was. We’ve been keeping him ticking over.
Tiger Roll was brilliant in the cross-country at last season’s Festival, smashing Easysland by 18 lengths.
But he didn’t run in the Grand National due to the ongoing row about his handicap mark.
The Irish handicapper has his rating at 155 but, if he runs at Cheltenham, he will be off a mark of 165 and will have to give his rivals upwards of 8lb.
O’Leary said: “Hopefully he will run and run well and then we will look at the Festival again for him and maybe the National. That would be the aim for him but we’ll see how the weights are.
“It’ll depend on the English handicapper.
“The Irish handicapper has him at 155 but they won’t accept it in England, they won’t budge.
“Even the Irish handicapper has dropped him 7lb since he won at Cheltenham, but your man won’t budge!”
Tiger Roll heads the weights and is a 10-1 shot with Betfair for Sunday’s £60,000 race, in which he could face the likes of Empire De Maulde and Yala Enki.
Among Elliott’s other entries at the upcoming November Meeting are Off Your Rocco in the Grade 2 novice hurdle on Friday and Top Bandit in Sunday’s Supreme Trial.
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