No one will need sunglasses at Aintree on Thursday as the first afternoon of the Grand National Festival gets under way, but the better news is that umbrellas should be largely redundant too. The skies will be grey but the forecast is dry, and while there was 1.5mm of rain at the track overnight, it was not enough to change the going, which is soft on the Grand National course and good-to-soft, soft in places on the chase and hurdles tracks.
From a betting perspective, it has to be said that the field sizes on the day are a little disappointing, with just half a dozen going to post in the opening Grade One and – following the withdrawal of Vincitore – only 21 in the Foxhunters’, barely two-thirds of the maximum field of 30.
But there is an interesting mixture of apparent bankers, in Might Bite (2.50) and Supasundae (3.25), and horses with something to prove, the most obvious being Apple’s Shakira, the uneasy favourite for the juvenile hurdle.
Nicky Henderson’s filly was one of the warmest favourites of the week at Cheltenham last month, but raced keenly on the way to finishing only fourth in the Triumph Hurdle. That was still a fair performance and a first-time hood may help her to settle better here, but it does not necessarily give Apple’s Shakira the chance that her price might imply.
We Have A Dream, her stable companion, has obvious claims and is a fresh horse after being a late scratching from the Triumph, while it could also be unwise to ignore the form of Malaya (2.20) in a handicap at Ascot last time. She gets 7lb from most of the field and stopped the clock in a decent time, and 8-1 is an excellent each-way price against the front two.
Paul Nicholls, Malaya’s trainer, has a big runner in the opener too as Cyrname (1.45) is a progressive novice chaser whose form in the Scilly Isles Novice Chase two runs ago has worked out well. Balnaslow (4.05), second in the Foxhunters’ 12 months ago, has an excellent chance to go one better this time around, and much the same comment applies to Theinval, who was second in last year’s Red Rum Handicap Chase and has the added benefit of being 3lb lower in the weights.
Aintree 1.45 Cyrname (nb) 2.20 Malaya 2.50 Might Bite 3.25 Supasundae 4.05 Balnaslow 4.40 Theinval (nap) 5.15 Dissavril
Southwell 1.55 Gleaming Sun 2.30 Raaqyah 3.00 Jabbarockie 3.35 Tricky Dicky 4.15 Kingstreet Lady 4.50 Amadeus 5.25 Dream Ally
Taunton 2.10 Zoltan Varga 2.40 Dentley De Mee 3.15 Robert’s Star 3.55 Le Coeur Net 4.30 Risk And Roll 5.05 Fly West 5.35 Mark’s Folly
Chelmsford 5.45 Harperelle 6.15 Clear Water 6.45 Commander Han 7.15 Maratha 7.45 Zac Brown 8.15 Strictly Carter 8.45 Global Style
