Jake Aldrich has three best bets for the opening day of the Grand National Festival at Aintree, including one in the first race of the day.
Aintree’s Grand National Festival begins on Thursday with a quartet of Grade 1 contests for racing fans to enjoy.
A clash between 2023 Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill and star mare Lossiemouth in the Aintree Hurdle is one of many intriguing plotlines on what promises to be a fantastic day of racing on Merseyside.
Our expert, Jake Aldrich, has a trio of horse racing betting selections on the card.
Thursday’s Aintree tips
13:45 Gidleigh Park /
14:40 Naturally Nimble /
14:55 Spillane’s Tower /
13:45
Three days of top-notch racing at Aintree begins with the Grade 1 Manifesto Novices’ Chase over 2m4f.
It promises to be a competitive contest with some of the top novices from Britain and Ireland going to post, headed by last month’s Arkle winner Jango Baie.
Nicky Henderson’s gelding should relish the step up from two miles and he has good course form, having won a Grade 1 over hurdles at Aintree as a novice.
However, he was arguably a slightly fortuitous winner at Cheltenham, where odds-on favourite Majbourgh made a hash of the last two fences, and can be taken on with the lightly raced GIDLEIGH PARK / .
The selection admittedly comes with risks attached as he was found to have an irregular heart beat when pulled up on his chasing debut at Kempton in November. But he quickly bounced back to form with a convincing win in a Grade 2 contest over two miles at Windsor.
The runner-up that day, Caldwell Potter, has subsequently run away with a Grade 2 novice handicap chase at the Cheltenham Festival and a return to the intermediate trip could bring out the best in Gidleigh Park.
14:40
Joseph O’Brien holds a strong hand in the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle with Puturhandstogether heading the market after a comfortable win in the Fred Winter at Cheltenham.
That was an impressive display but the strength of the form is open to debate and he doesn’t make much appeal at the current prices.
O’Brien also saddles NATURALLY NIMBLE / , who reached a useful level on the Flat and has shown progressive form since switching to hurdles.
The son of Too Darn Hot was last seen finishing fourth under a penalty in a Grade 2 at Leopardstown and the form of that race has worked out well with the winner and runner-up both running with credit in the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
He will be suited by the sound surface and a strong pace to aim at could bring about further improvement. He should also arrive fresh having skipped the Cheltenham Festival.
14:55
Grey Dawning bounced back from a disappointing effort in the King George to run out a comfortable winner of a Listed contest at Kelso.
Dan Skelton’s grey beat Grand National fancy Iroko on that occasion but he is passed over in favour of Irish raider SPILLANE’S TOWER / , who has the best piece of form on offer courtesy of his runner-up effort in November’s John Durkan Chase at Punchestown, where he split Ryanair winner Fact To File and two-time Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs.
He wasn’t at his best in the King George on Boxing Day but is worth noting that he was sent off favourite for that race.
Trainer Jimmy Mangan has given him plenty of time to recover and he remains open to further improvement.
