DOITFORTHEVILLAGE did trainer Paul Henderson proud with another excellent performance on the big stage.

The nine-year-old from Henderson's Whitsbury yard was a running-on fourth of 16 under Tom O'Brien in the Grade Three Zur Media Red Rum Handicap Chase over 2m of the Mildmay course at Aintree on the opening day of the Grand National meeting.

The prize money of £4,700 for owners The Rockbourne Partnership carried his career earnings beyond £80,000 and was a decent follow-up to his sixth place of 22 in the Grade Three Grand Annual Handicap Chase at last month's Cheltenham Festival.

Henderson said: “Doitforthevillage has been a brilliant horse. He cost only £14,000 having won a point-to-point in Ireland and he's taken his owners all over the place and won six races.

"He had a hard race at Cheltenham – those championship races take it out of them – and that probably left its mark on him.

“There's only three weeks between the meetings and, next year, Tom reckons we should go for just one of those races and that would be Aintree even though he won at Cheltenham in November.”