AINTREE – FRIDAY
2:20 H’cap Hurdle
Impose Toi (Nico De Boinville)
He ran a great race at Cheltenham last time in first time cheek pieces, so they are retained here, and I’ve been happy with him during the interim. He’s not the sort of horse who gets up in the morning and wants to shine, he does everything in his own time but seems to come alive on race day. The Handicapper has raised him another 3lbs so he’s off a career high mark but loves the ground and this is his trip.
Unibet are paying 2 EXTRA PLACES in this race!
3:30 G1 Melling Chase
Jonbon (Nico De Boinville)
Under the circumstances, I thought he did incredibly well to finish where he did in the Champion Chase where he completely missed the break, got hit by the starting tape and then made a crashing error five out which basically put him out of the race. He’s not slow by any stretch of the imagination but goes back up to two and a half here which isn’t a problem, because he won this last year, and while he may have had quite a hard race at Cheltenham, he takes his racing very well, in fact he thrives on it so there shouldn’t be any concerns from that point of view.
Unibet are SUPER BOOSTING the price of EVERY runner in this race!
4:05 Topham Chase
Fantastic Lady (James Bowen)
She loves Aintree and has been second and sixth in this race before so knows her way around. We did talk about the Grand National, but we were guaranteed a run here so that’s what we’re doing and she is very sound jumper. The sheepskin cheekpieces are retained and hopefully she can run a nice race.
Excello (Nico De Boinville)
He has snuck in at the very bottom of the handicap which is wonderful because I do think he has a terrific chance. We had a slight lean patch before his latest run at Sandown which was excellent where he jumped well and really enjoyed himself. After that, this race very quickly came to the top of mine and Nico’s minds as a race he could be very well suited to. He schooled over National-type fences the other day and was something else. We’re putting a set of cheekpieces and he’s a very laid back person with a lovely attitude. I like him a lot.
Unibet are paying 2 EXTRA PLACES in this race!
4:40 G1 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle
Califet En Vol (Nico De Boinville)
We’ve always had our eye on this race, certainly after he won the Sidney Banks at Huntingdon, which was over 2m4f and he got very well, so we are looking forward to stepping him up to three miles, and this looks the obvious place for him. He’s still a baby and will continue improving, but he’s close to the top of the ratings, certainly of the English horses, and he has a serious chance on ground he’ll enjoy.
Holloway Queen (James Bowen)
She got beaten last time over two and a half, and this will be the fastest ground she has encountered, but she just did a very nice piece of work on Saturday which made me think we might as well have a go at this – we had to go somewhere, so why not here? John Pullin has put down plenty of water, therefore it will probably ride better than anywhere else because there is no rain forecast so he hasn’t got to worry about a deluge making it a right mess which is always a slight ick if they do water and then it rains. She’s a nice mare and I could see her outrunning her likely big odds.
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