This week we have the Grand National at Aintree, and the meeting looks a cracker. Apart from the Grand National itself, run on Saturday, there are some great races planned especially on the opening couple of days. I am planning on being in Liverpool seeing relatives at the weekend, altho' I won't be at the race meeting at Aintree. This time of year always puts a strain on my time what with Easter holidays, the Cheltenham Festival and then Aintree all coming in quick succession, and so I've not been able to finish off my Cheltenham look-back yet. The aim is to complete it next week after the Grand National.
Thursday has a couple of really good races in the Betfred Bowl Chase (Grade 1) and the John Smiths Aintree Hurdle (Grade 1). The "Bowl" should go to Silviniaco Conti as he looks head'n'shoulders above this field. He was probably tiring when he fell 3-out at Cheltenham in the Gold Cup, but this easier Aintree circuit will suit him perfectly. Remember, he won the 3m1f novice chase (run this year on Friday) last season. Personally, I don't think First Lieutenant is good enough to trouble the fav, and I expect the one to follow him home will be Cape Tribulation who also won at this meeting last year when taking the 3m1f handicap hurdle carrying 11st 12lb. Current odds of 9/1 about Cape Tribulation look very generous and he must be the eachway play in this, and I reckon he'll be trading a lot shorter at the off.
The Aintree Hurdle over 2m4f has been relegated from Saturdays card, which I think is a shame as the race has a great history. The race has such greats as Comedy Of Errors, Night Nurse, Monksfield, Dawn Run, Istabraq and Morley Street on the winners rosta. This year's race looks very competitive with Zarkandar, The New One, Oscar Whisky, Grandouet, and Countrywide Flame all looking to hold chances.
Perhaps the race of the meeting (excluding the Grand National) is on Friday, when Sprinter Sacre meets Cue Card and Flemenstar in the Melling Chase over 2m4f. Regular readers of the blog will know that I am a huge CUE CARD fan, and he's done me proud this season providing 19pts of profit for total stakes of 5pts. If he will ever beat Sprinter Sacre it is over 2m4f as there is no way he would challenge him over 2-mile. This race will show just how good Sprinter Sacre is and whether he is the "monster" that some consider him to be. Paddy Power are 8/1 about CUE CARD and I cannot resist that, so I'm having a 1pt win wager.
I'll be looking mainly at the Grand National over the next couple of days and hoping to post up the winner on this blog on Saturday morning.
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