Tizzard may be Lord of Aintree

Three-day Grand National Festival begins today

Thu, 07 Apr, 2022 - 07:00

Aintree begins its three-day extravaganza a little later than usual as it tries to find some space after a late Cheltenham and the Scottish National. It kicks off with the Grade One Manifesto Novices’ Chase, which is the most recent addition to the meeting.

Pic D’Orhy, trained by Paul Nicholls, is favourite. Paul bypassed Cheltenham with a lot of his horses, keeping them fresher and saving them for what he hoped might be easier targets, I presume, at Aintree.

But I fancy Colin Tizzard’s War Lord. I thought he ran particularly well when finishing fourth behind Edwardstone in the Arkle. All his runs this year have been over two miles, but he does have form at Aintree over two and a half miles over hurdles last season when seventh behind Tronador.

That was at the backend of the season in a handicap hurdle, and I think he has progressed nicely over fences this year. At Cheltenham, he showed the pace to travel in a good position but didn’t have the speed to quicken down the hill.

However, he stayed on nicely from the home turn to get by Riviere D’etel to finish fourth. His form is strong and the step up in trip will bring about the required improvement in him.

The Anniversary Hurdle sees the clash of the Triumph Hurdle and Fred Winter form. Pied Piper ran a blinder to finish third to Vauban in the Triumph, while Brazil downed Gaelic Warrior in the Fred Winter.

I thought Brazil did particularly well that day. He gave the runner-up 8lbs and suffered some major interference at the second hurdle but was tough and battled well.

Pied Piper has beaten most of the British horses before, but I liked what I saw from Brazil at Cheltenham and think he can come out on top.

Betway Bowl

In the Betway Bowl, Kemboy will try to repeat what he did in 2019 when he absolutely bolted in. His second-last run, behind Galvin, is a good run, but his run behind Conflated leaves him with a bit of ground to find.

I think Conflated was coming to finish second to Allaho in the Ryanair Chase when he fell at the second-last. His run in the Irish Gold Cup was impressive, when he beat Minella Indo, and I think going on that line of form Conflated probably has the beating of Protektorat and Royal Pagaille.

Last year’s winner, Clan Des Obeaux, is in first-time blinkers but needs to bounce back to his best, and so Conflated is the one for me.

In the Aintree Hurdle, Epatante and Zanahiyr, second and third respectively in the Champion Hurdle, renew rivalry. The step up in trip will suit Zanahiyr, but he’s only a five-year-old, has cheekpieces and a tongue-tie on, and I think Epatante is the one to beat.

She would have been well in front of Zanahiyr only for her mistake at the last hurdle, which meant she only beat him by a length. She did well to get going again and hold him off and I also think that, at eight years of age, stepping up in trip will suit her.

Jett heads the market in the Foxhunters’ Chase. He blazed the trail for a long way in last year’s Grand National and if he can get into the same rhythm today, he could take pegging back.

The Red Rum Handicap is a really quick race. Before Midnight was second to Funambule Sivola at Doncaster, and that form looks solid now considering the winner was second to Energumene in the Champion Chase.

Grand Annual winner Global Citizen and Paul Nicholls’ Dolos have good form, but I like some fresher types, and Nicholls’ Thyme White, which Bryony Frost rides, best fits the bill.

The bumper provides Willie’s best chance of a winner. He runs Ashroe Diamond, and her latest form wasn’t done any harm when Pink In The Park and Nikini, who finished behind her at Leopardstown, were second and third in a listed bumper at Fairyhouse.

Lorna Fowler runs Naughtinesse, who won a bumper at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day, but we like the way Ashroe Diamond is working, and Patrick Mullins is going to do 11 stone and that is a sign to me that he really fancies her.