Paul Nicholls eyeing Aintree option with Kempton scorer Danny Kirwan

Paul Nicholls is planning to bypass the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at next month's Cheltenham Festival with Danny Kirwan.

The Ditcheat handler is favouring an outing in a Grade Two heat at Aintree on April 13 with the five-year-old, who was an impressive winner at Kempton on Saturday.

Nicholls said: "I'm not a great fan of the Champion Bumper and I don't want to do that. If we run again it will be at Aintree, then he will go hurdling in the autumn.

"He is a very nice horse and he travelled well into the race at Kempton. He is a nice horse for the future as a jumper, not as a bumper horse. He has won his point-to-point and done plenty of jumping at home."

Among those Danny Kirwan could take on at Aintree is the Oliver Sherwood-trained Severano, who also struck at the Sunbury track earlier this month.

Sherwood said: "He will go to Aintree for the Grade Two bumper there on the Friday.

"He is a nice horse to go hurdling with next season and is the sort of horse you want to get out of bed in the morning for. It is nice to have a youngster like that.

"He showed me what he was showing at home on the track and you always hope to see that."