Vieux Lion Rouge lays down a marker for the National

He was speaking after recording an 11th career victory on the eight-year-old when winning Haydock’s Betfred Grand National Trial on Saturday.

Though the marathon was staged over traditional ‘park’ steeplechase fences, he says the horse’s character has changed since finishing seventh in last year’s Grand National when ridden by North Yorkshire’s James Reveley.

Scudamore was in the saddle when the David Pipe-trained horse, whose name means ‘Old Red Lion’, won last December’s Becher Chase over Aintree’s iconic fences, beating Highland Lodge in a thrilling finish.

With the weights for this year’s Randox Health Grand National announced last Tuesday, Vieux Lion Rouge’s mark of 10st 7lb looks more than competitive after seeing off Cheltenham Festival winner Blaklion in a terrific tussle off a hard-run pace, with the Sue Smith-trained Vintage Clouds a distant third and stablemate Wakanda pulled up.

A contest normally run on bog-like ground, the going – for once – could resemble conditions on Merseyside this April.

“The National fences have made him,” Scudamore told The Yorkshire Post. “They’ve made a man of him.

“Before last year, he could take a bit of a chance at his fences. He was a bit of a playboy.

“Since schooling him over National fences – James rode him in the race – he’s been a different horse.”

After choosing to ride Ballynagour last year, Scudamore knows there will be no difficult decisions prior to this year’s race. “We’ve just got to get there in one piece,” he added.

“He’s now finishing off his races much better. We can head to the National now with confidence and a few pounds up our sleeves, we hope.”

Scudamore’s words were echoed by Pipe, who said of Vieux Lion Rouge: “He’s changed a lot, as he never used to find much at the end of his races. As a French horse, he’s quite a late maturer.

“I wasn’t confident he was going to win as it’s a long straight and Tom wasn’t sure what he had left. He’s going back to Aintree with experience over the fences and he proved today he doesn’t need soft ground.”

Also Aintree-bound is the runner-up Blaklion – jockey Willy Twiston-Davies said this was a perfect prep after his mount conceded 6lb to the winner.

The rest of Saturday’s action was dominated by the last significant Cheltenham trials.

Though the quirky Zarkandar booked his place in the Stayers’ Hurdle by rolling back the years to land Haydock’s Rendlesham Hurdle under a tender ride from champion conditional-elect Harry Cobden, the standout performance came at Ascot where Cue Card was magnificent in winning the Grade One Betfair Ascot Chase.

Now 11, he jumped exuberantly for Paddy Brennan and showed no ill-effects from his King George defeat on Boxing Day to stablemate Thistlecrack.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup clash between the Colin Tizzard-trained Thistlecrack, Cue Card and Native River promises, on this evidence, to be a race for the ages.

Though this test was shorter than the three-and-a-quarter- mile Gold Cup test, Tizzard said: “It’s nice to see his well-being. He is 11 and you wonder ‘how many times can he keep doing this?’ but he is back again. Today, he jumped beautifully and he destroyed them. It was everything you want to see and more.

“In the ring, he looked as well as ever and on form he needed to do that. He has been a brilliant horse for a long time. I spoke to Jean (Bishop, owner) and it is her ambition to win the Gold Cup.”

Rebecca Curtis had no qualms about running Bigbadjohn in the Sodexo Reynoldstown Chase after a fibrillating heart had caused him problems in the Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster last month.

The eight-year-old showed he had made a complete recovery when nailing the gutsy long-time leader Flintham on the line in the Grade Two, but jockey Jonathan Moore – back in harness with the Curtis yard – received an 11-day ban for overuse of the whip.