Lord Gyllene's flop at Uttoxeter on Saturday could have earned him an unscheduled tilt at next month's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Steve Brookshaw is keen to get another run into the 1997 Martell Grand National winner, who was pulled up early on the final circuit in the Singer & Friedlander National Trial on Saturday. So he is considering using the Gold Cup as a stepping-stone to Aintree for the 11-year-old, whose poor effort he blames entirely on very soft ground.

"It was the first time he has run on heavy going and he took a definite dislike to it - he couldn't jump out of it, said Brookshaw.

"He is entered in the Greenalls at Haydock but there is no point in going there unless it is decent ground.

"He is in at Cheltenham as well in the Gold Cup and he could run there, or in one of the handicaps although he would have topweight." Brookshaw is confident that Lord Gyllene, who missed the whole of last season due to injury, will suffer no long-term ill effects from his run on Saturday.

"He's very well this morning," the trainer said. "His legs are perfect - they couldn't be better."