The Betway ambassador previews his two races on Day 2 of the Aintree Festival, including his ride on Ile Atlantique in the Topham Handicap Chase.
Ladies Day at Aintree really is a unique atmosphere, and it’s great fun to be a part of it. I believe they’ve got a huge crowd coming, so the atmosphere on course is going to be incredible, and even though I’ve only got two rides on the day, I’d absolutely love to have a winner!
The first of my two rides is Gold Dancer / in the Mildmay Novices’ (14:20), and I thought he ran a cracker at Cheltenham in the Jack Richards. This is obviously a step up in grade for him, but I think three miles on decent ground and a flat track could be what he wants, and there wouldn’t be a lot between him and Regents Stroll on their Cheltenham form. Wendigo has some decent form to his name, but it’s never ideal coming off the back of a fall, so I’d say Salver might be the one we all have to beat. His third last time in the Brown Advisory is proper grade 1 form, so if he can replicate that here, then he could take some stopping.
We don’t have anything in the novice hurdle (14:55), but you’d suspect Sober Glory will take some beating if he reproduces that run in the Supreme. I was very impressed with him at Cheltenham, so if he arrives here in similar form, then it will certainly take a good performance to stop him.
We have nothing in the Melling Chase (15:30) either, but this looks a fascinating clash between Grey Dawning and Heart Wood, so I’m looking forward to watching it. You’d just be wary of what sort of mark a race like the Gold Cup will have left on Grey Dawning, so I think preference would just be for Henry’s horse. That was very good what he did in the Ryanair, and he’ll take all the beating if putting up a similar performance here.
The Topham (16:05) is great fun to ride in, and as much as it is a bit of a lottery, I’m looking forward to having a spin around there on Ile Atlantique / . He’s a horse we have always held in high regard, but he just hasn’t reached the heights we’d all hoped to be truthful. I’m hoping that these new fences and this new challenge might just perk him up, and they do sometimes have that effect on a horse, so hopefully that’s the case for him. I know he’s tipped up on a couple of occasions, but I’m not too worried about his jumping, and my main concern would probably just be that he has to carry his fair share of weight in what is a very competitive race. He has plenty of ability, though, so if he gets into a good rhythm and takes to the challenge, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to me if he got involved.
O’Moore Park ran a creditable race at Cheltenham, and he has a nice racing weight if he takes to this test. He is still a maiden over fences, but this would be some race to get off the mark in.
