The seven-year-old has made giant strides in the past 12 months, with a Sedgefield success and three victories at Kelso seeing his mark rise from 111 to the considerably more lofty perch of 157.

Having made an impressive start to his campaign in the Scottish borders in October, Sounds Russian steps up to Grade Two level for race won by Gold Cup hero Native River in 2019 and subsequent Gold Cup third and Betfair Chase winner Protektorat last season.

"He's an intended runner at the moment. We haven't missed a beat since Kelso really, so we can't complain," said Jefferson.

"We could have run him in another handicap but I wasn't sure we'd learn much, whereas if we run him in a Graded race against those better types he's either going to be up to it or he isn't. If he isn't, we can go back to handicaps.

"It's probably one of the better Many Clouds Chases there's been in recent years, but that seems to be the story of my life!"

Ground conditions on Merseyside are on the soft side and Jefferson would be quite happy if further rain arrived ahead of the weekend.

She added: "To be honest if it rained a bit and kept the ground soft it would really suit him as he has lots of form on heavy and it would put some of the others at a disadvantage, but at the same time I can't really call him ground dependent because he isn't."

It will be three years in February since Jefferson last tasted Graded race success with high-class mare Clondaw Caitlin, while the popular Waiting Patiently's memorable Ascot Chase win came in 2018.

The Norton handler has a smaller string these days and has only saddled three winners so far this season. She hopes a big-race success this weekend would put her name back in lights.

Jefferson said: "When you're not a big yard you need good horses, don't you?

"When you're one of the bigger yards you can just have a lot of winners and people notice you, but when you're only a small yard you need a better horse, so it would be nice to win a good race."