Corach Rambler will stay close to home as he makes his seasonal reappearance in the Edinburgh Gin Chase at Kelso, rather than heading back to Cheltenham.

The Lucinda Russell-trained gelding has been given a mark of 159 following his fairytale Grand National success in April and may need to be campaigned in level-weights contests for the remainder of the season.

He will have to give away a stone or more to the other five runners in Saturday's Edinburgh Gin Chase, which was a better scenario than racing at Cheltenham.

"We had the choice between two races, but he was giving a lot of weight away at Cheltenham and this is a limited handicap," said Russell.

"He owes us absolutely nothing and we're delighted to get him back on the track. He seems in fantastic form, he loves being in training and loves his racing, so let's hope he runs a big race at Kelso.

"It's the start of the season and I think with a lot of these horses that we're running just now, how they run now will dictate what we do for the rest of the year with them.

"At this time last year, we hadn't even thought of the Grand National with Corach Rambler and he ended up winning it, so let's just see he how he performs and that will give us an idea what we do next.

"I've got it on my mind that we'll go to the Betfair Chase at Haydock and try him at level weights, but we'll know more after Saturday."