Joe's looking lively again with Welsh National on the agenda

And while he failed to hit those heights at Cheltenham and Aintree, Joe Lively is back in the reckoning 12 months on with Saturday's Coral Welsh National the target.

The nine-year-old is well-fancied for the 3m6f marathon at Chepstow after following a promising reappearance third at Cheltenham by posting his first victory since that Boxing Day triumph when winning a Grade 3 contest at the Paddy Power meeting last month.

Joe Lively was purchased for a lowly four-figure sum by Richard Dimond, whose association with trainer Colin Tizzard stretches back many years as the pair live only a gallop apart just outside Sherborne in Dorset.

Dimond said: "He's only in the next village and I try to go six mornings a week to ride the horse out."

Dimond spent four years after leaving school with the legendary Captain Tim Forster before returning to Dorset to ride and train.

His base is now a riding stables and a bed and breakfast but he kept his eye in the racing game to purchase Joe Lively from the Ascot Sales in July 2006.

He continued: "I bought him fairly reasonably. He was a very well-bred horse for jumping. That's what I liked about him - he was bred for the game."

The son of Flemensfirth has won eight of his 17 starts and is rated a 16-1 shot for the Welsh National by bookmakers Paddy Power.

Dimond added: "Without a doubt Joe's the best I've had, or ever likely to have.

"They put him up a fair bit in the weights and he went from 143 to 155.

"That's quite a big jump as he's not a big horse. He did it as a novice when he won the Feltham under a penalty so he might cope with it."