TRAINER Malcolm Jefferson has confirmed stable star Cape Tribulation will end his season in the Betfred Bowl at Aintree on Thursday week.

The nine-year-old booked his place in the Cheltenham Gold Cup with victory in the Argento Chase in January and was far from disgraced in the blue riband, finishing a creditable fifth under Denis O’Regan.

Cape Tribulation won over hurdles at Cheltenham and Aintree last spring and Jefferson is looking forward to seeing his charge get back on a sounder surface.

‘‘The plan is to go to Aintree at the moment,’’ said the North Yorkshire handler. ‘‘He came back from Cheltenham a bit quiet, but he never left anything (food) and he’s perking up a bit now.

‘‘There was an extra week between Cheltenham and Aintree last year, but hopefully we’ll get him there and he’ll run on a bit better ground.

‘‘There’s nothing else for him after Aintree, so that will be his last run of the season and we’ll look forward to next season with him.

‘‘He’ll go down a similar route, starting off in something like the Charlie Hall at Wetherby and it would be nice to have another go at the Gold Cup.’’ Set to join Cape Tribulation at Aintree is stable companion Attaglance, who also won at the two big British Festivals last year. He has failed to fire in four starts over fences this season and returns over smaller obstacles for the Grade One Liverpool Hurdle on Grand National day.