Johnson ponders taking Raglan Road to Festival

The seven-year-old is the only horse to finish in front of Dunguib when he won a bumper at Punchestown in April 2008. He finished fourth behind Weapon's Amnesty in the Albert Bartlett at the Festival last year, but fell in the Sefton Novices' Hurdle at Aintree, badly injuring a tendon.

On Raglan Road is now well on the road to recovery and Johnson is tempted to run him in the competitive handicap.

"On Raglan Road could be the best horse in my yard," said the Country Durham handler. "He snapped a leg at Aintree, it was horrible and they wanted to put him down but I told them not to.

"My vet worked wonders, he took a piece of flesh off his backside to fix the problem and he's got a big scar there now.

"He was out in the field and we had written this season off but he wasn't doing very well so we brought him back in. He's turned inside out since then and we're pleased with him again.

"If Scriptwriter doesn't get in the Coral Cup I might be tempted to run him in that. He's a very good horse and I owe my vet a lot."

Howard Johnson also has the Scottish Grand National at Ayr as a long-term aim for Killyglen after he returned to form at Doncaster on Saturday.

The eight-year-old was a Grade Two winner at the Grand National meeting last season but had been pulled up on two of his three starts this term.

However, he ran a fine race in the Grimthorpe Chase at the weekend, finishing second to Wogan when attempting to concede 19lb to the winner.

"The better ground has always been the key to Killyglen," said Johnson. "He finds it really hard in the soft through the winter.

"He might go for something like the Scottish National at the end of the season. All he does is stay, he stays all day."

Meanwhile, David Pipe's recent impressive Doncaster winner Salut Flo has been installed as 6-1 favourite by the sponsors for Saturday's Paddy Power Imperial Cup. The Pipe family have an enviable record in the valuable race and the master of Pond House has another string to his bow with Hunterview, formerly with John Gosden on the level.

Sponsors Paddy Power offer a 75,000 bonus for any horse that wins the Imperial Cup and goes on to win at the Cheltenham Festival the following week.