Walsh missed the race through injury for the second time in three years after falling in the Aintree Hurdle, this time from Zarkandar.

He hopes to be back in action at the end of the week, or possibly sooner.

"I don't feel too bad now," Walsh told racinguk.com.

"I suffered a lot of bruising and soreness but hopefully I can be at Cheltenham on Wednesday or Thursday, and if not then, we'd be looking at Friday.

"After the incident, I was trying not to think of the prospect of not riding in the National. But it was a pretty heavy fall and I was feeling very sore, so the doctor had no option to quite rightly stand me down."

Walsh would have been riding On His Own but passed over the ride on the eventual winner, Neptune Collonges, and the third, Seabass, who was ridden by his sister, Katie.

"I wasn't actually that nervous as they (Seabass and Katie) were jumping so well," he said.

"At the second-last I thought she could win, but at the last you could see they were tiring. I was delighted for Katie and she loved every minute of it.

"I was also looking out for On His Own and of course, Neptune Collonges. It was a great result for Paul (Nicholls) and I was very pleased for the yard. He jumped super and it shows you have to stay to win an English National.

"I think it was very unfortunate and unlucky that those two horses died. Synchronised got injured running loose and According To Pete was brought down, so you can't blame the fences directly.

"What I would say is that I thought the BHA and Aintree did a first-class job prior to the race. I thought the modifications to the fences were right as were the post-race horse welfare measures, and they also were very thorough in all their briefings. I thought they did a great job, and couldn't have done much more."