I suppose just for the sake of taking each day as it comes, I may as well deal with tomorrow's Irish one first and we'll get to Hedgehunter and the big one in due course.

I'll be on Kings Advocate tomorrow at Fairyhouse, a ride that will keep me well away from the Easter eggs because I have to do 10st for it. I had a decent meal on Friday but since then it's been the bare minimum in order to make it for tomorrow. I hope he's worth it.

I'm confident he'll give me a run anyway. To my mind, he's a definite each-way bet at a big price if nothing else. He has what I would consider the right credentials . . . he's an unexposed novice who's been very lightly-raced throughout his career.

That said, he has staying form over hurdles, having been placed in Leopardstown and Navan last year. He looks like the type that will like the ground as well and to me, he ticks all the right boxes. He's quick over the ground and I see solid reasons why he should stay.

With only 10st on his back and with novices having a great record in this race, he would definitely be an each-way chance. And if we get in the shake-up, who knows?

With Cane Brake staying in, it looks to me that the best chance in the race has to be Juveigneur. He'll be running off 11st8lb and for a horse who was only just touched off having run a cracker at Cheltenham, who was placed in a Hennessy and was placed in a Welsh National, that's a nice weight. That's a lot of knocking on doors in big races and sooner or later you'd have to think one of those doors will open for him.

Mick Fitzgerald will be riding him and there wouldn't be a man in the weighing room who'd begrudge him the win. I know there's been a lot of speculation since he announced he was retiring at the end of the season that maybe he'd stay on for one more but I have a notion that one big win would make up his mind for him.

You won't find many more popular men in racing than Mick Fitz and if he was to win tomorrow or have a big Liverpool, I think he'd probably decide to go out in style.

As for myself in Liverpool, I'll have a few good chances through the week on Twist Magic, Taranis and Andreas but the big one for the week is the Grand National on Saturday. I'll have Hedgehunter for company for the third year in a row and I have to say I'm feeling fairly encouraged about him again this year.

He's in good form, having run reasonably well in Limerick last weekend. I know his price went out a bit after that run but I wouldn't worry about that. He did no more or no less than we asked of him in Limerick and all it was was a two-mile hurdle race just to get a run into him. He's never been much to look at over two miles anyway. For what it's worth, he stayed on well for us nonetheless.

He'll carry top weight again but I think the interesting thing about that is that it's actually not too bad a weight when you consider what the other good horses in the race are carrying as well. Relatively speaking, he's well treated. Put it this way . . . I know he couldn't have been given any more to carry but some of the horses below him could have been asked to carry less.

Now if it was going to be a mudbath, then the weight would become a much bigger factor and I'd say he'd have very little chance. But with all this fine weather we're having . . . and more of it predicted for the week to come . . . the weight issue can be overcome. They're going to water the track for safety reasons and that's good but Hedgehunter definitely won't mind if the sun keeps shining. I'm convinced he would have won last year if the rain hadn't come on the Friday night.

He'll have Dun Doire and Numbersixvalverde for company and I know both Tony Martin and Martin Brassil are extremely happy with their preparations. But my lad knows his way around Aintree and has a first and a second in his last two runs in the race. All in all, I'll be surprised if we're not in contention.