Pineau De Re is likely to have one more start over hurdles before taking aim at the Crabbie's Grand National - but a trip to the Cheltenham Festival is unlikely.
The 2014 Grand National hero has used the Pertemps Network Final at the Cheltenham Festival for the past two seasons as a prep race for the Aintree marathon, but trainer Dr Richard Newland is this time looking to take a different approach.
The Claines handler said: "Pineau De Re is very well and we have just given him a mini-break but he is back in full work now.
"He will run at the end of February in a Pertemps qualifier at Chepstow, but he probably won't get entered in the final at Cheltenham this season.
"He will definitely be trained for the National and hopefully he will get in on a more realistic mark this year."
The evergreen 13-year-old became the first horse since Bindaree in 2002 to win a race after having struck National gold when he claimed a Pertemps qualifier at Carlisle last month.
Newland said: "It gave me a huge amount of satisfaction seeing him win at Carlisle as when you get good horses you hope to get them back - and we know that historically National winners find it difficult to win afterwards.
"He has come out of that race very well and, for whatever reason, he has got his mojo back."