With the Cheltenham Festival now fading into the mists of time, we now move onto Aintree. Cheltenham was a game of two halves for me, I done very well the first two days, and gave quite a bit back the during the final 2. However, I still finished in front and that is all that matters.
Aintree can be a difficult meeting sometimes, as many of the markets revolve around horses that either ran well at Cheltenham, or should have, but failed. Aintree is a completely different track, and some horses that ran well at Cheltenham can really struggle on it.
So on with my thoughts on each race. I will publish one of these for each of the three days.
2:00 Injured Jockeys Fund 50th Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 1)
Considering the trouble CALIPTO got into at the Festival, he done well to finish fourth. He went off Fav for that race, and will do so here as well. One horse that will like this track is ACTIVIAL, who won at Kempton. The problem with this race is that a lot of the horses are closely rated, and some of the form lines are a bit of a mess. As I can’t pick a single horse that stands out, I will go for a lay in this race. The horse that gets my kiss of death is AURORE D'ESTRUVAL. Although this filly is a relatively short price, she looks out of her depth.
2:30 Betfred Bowl Chase (Grade 1)
This race is easy to solve. Well it would be apart from the form lines here are a bit muddled. DYNASTE powered up the hill at Cheltenham, but this track will probably not favour this horse, and so I will lay him (as I did at the Festival!) The Irish runner FIRST LIEUTENANT won this last year, and having missed the Festival, he should be in top form to take it again, so a win bet.
3:05 Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle (Grade 1)
THE NEW ONE ran a cracker in the Champion Hurdle, and may have won, as he lost a few lengths when interfered with by a faller, and is worth a bet. On horse that I will be laying is ROCK ON RUBY, she didn’t look comfortable over fences, and switches back to the smaller obstacles here, she has lost some of her speed.
3:40 Crabbie's Supporting The Hillsborough Families Fox Hunters' Chase (National Course)
What a great name for this fantastic race. I love these big field Hunter Chases, although I don’t follow it as much as I did in the past. I would usually say that it is best sticking with fancied runners in this type of race, but as this is over the National fences, it can throw up a lot of outsiders. It was won last year by a 100/1 shot. With that in mind, and MOSSEY JOE being such as short price, I’ll lay him. This is a race to watch and enjoy though.
4:15 Silver Cross Red Rum Handicap Chase (Grade 3)
Another well named race. OISEAU DE NUIT won this race last year, and has been in reasonable form since. At the price he is worth a small EW. SOUND INVESTMENT has been in great form, and if he was 10/1+, he would be worth an EW bet, shorter than that and I will have a straight win bet. TURN OVER SIVOLA is one of those annoying horses that keeps getting penalised for running well, but goes well on any track, and is another worth an interest, EW or Win, take your pick.
4:40 Pinsent Masons Manifesto Novices' Chase (Grade 1)
This is a fantastic race. WESTERN WARHORSE gave the bookies a lot of holiday money by winning the Arkle, but whether he can repeat that on this flat track is open to question. OSCAR WHISKY is the class act in the race, and fell early at Cheltenham. That was unusual, as he usually jumps well. I’ll dutch both of these runners.
5:25 Dominican Republic Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3)
We finish the day with a 22 runner lottery. I think I am getting too old to manage large handicaps, I make my money elsewhere. Fancied horses do tend to go well in this race though, and it is probably worth dutching the top 6 in the betting.
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