Big Buck's will go for a record 17th straight career win in the Liverpool Hurdle on Thursday's first day of the Grand National meeting.
The nine-year-old equalled Sir Ken's mark of 16 victories in a row when winning a fourth World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival last month.
Big Buck's faces seven rivals as he seeks a fourth consecutive Liverpool Hurdle win at the three-day fixture.
Meanwhile, Riverside Theatre heads the Betfred Bowl Chase (1505) contenders.
The horse, who is part-owned by actor James Nesbitt, triumphed in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last month and will face his Nicky Henderson-trained stablemate Burton Port, who was fourth in the Gold Cup and will be ridden by Tony McCoy.
Another interesting runner is the Keiran Burke-trained Cheltenham victor Hunt Ball, the winner of seven races since November which has seen his rating rise from 69 to 154.
Meanwhile, the Foxhunters Chase (1540) will see amateur riders negotiate the National fences, with Gwanako, My Way de Solzen and Cloudy Lane amog the hopefuls.
Ther meeting starts in style with the popular Big Buck's. His main challenger may be Alan King's Smad Place, who ran a career-best in the World Hurdle, finishing just over eight lengths behind in third.
Owner Andy Stewart is hoping his horse can create history at the Liverpool course.
"Big Buck's has been absolutely fine. Obviously he had a race at Cheltenham as they all did, but there have been no problems at all since," he said.
"He has never been beaten at Liverpool because he ran in a chase race the year before he won his first Liverpool Hurdle and, despite hitting every fence in the back straight, he still managed to get up and beat Albertas Run.
"I wouldn't say he is better at Aintree as the fields he's been facing there haven't been as strong as at Cheltenham but he just seems to recover so quickly. After this year's World Hurdle you wouldn't have known he had a race - he could have gone round again.
"Obviously he is feeling it because he is nine years of age now, so youth is just on his side but it's not quite the same as when he was seven. One day he will turn around and say 'I don't want to do this any more' but I think we are miles away from that at the moment."
Nicholls also runs the lightly-raced Poungach while the former Nicholls-trained Crack Away Jack has his first start for Tom George.
Restless Harry runs for Robin Dickin while Sabrina Harty's Won In The Dark is the sole Irish challenger and the Donald McCain-trained Across The Bay completes the field.
