Thursday’s excellent Aintree card hosts four Grade 1s, with short-priced favourites a theme of the day. Some deserve their skinny odds so it looks like a good day for an accumulator, with the opening two-mile novices’ chase 3/1-the-field and looking as good a race as any to kick one off. Nicky Henderson’s L’AMI…
1pt win Diego Du Charmil @11/1, 1pt win Romain De Senam @20/1, 14:15 Aintree
Cheltenham Festival form is a dangerous thing at Aintree, as the two tracks are very different and the close proximity of the meetings means lots of horses leave their best behind at Prestbury Park. Festival winners are often priced like bankers, as the fields are generally smaller and there’s more substance to the form book…
2016 Grand National Tips: Silviniaco Conti @12/1, O'Faolains Boy @40/1
Saturday’s Grand National at Aintree is the best known of all British horse races, not because it is the highest class race over jumps – it’s a handicap – but because nothing else in the calendar really comes close to recreating its theatre. A typical renewal is devilishly tricky to call,…
1pt forecast: 1st Top Gamble, 2nd Sizing Granite, 15:55 Fairyhouse, Tuesday
British Champion Jockey-elect Richard Johnson flies over for the ride on Kerry Lee’s Top Gamble, the 5/4 favourite for this Fairyhouse Grade 2 chase. That’s a tip in itself, but the market’s seen it coming and he’s very short. Top Gamble brushed aside 2015 Champion Chaser Dodging Bullets when last seen…
Fairyhouse Monday each-way doubles: Sutton Place and Value At Risk/Gwencily Berbas
The 16:20 at Fairyhouse looks wide open, with the favourite Dedigout 10 years old and there to be shot at after an underwhelming seasonal reappearance. Second favourite Taglietelli ran very well at Cheltenham in the Pertemps Final, shouldering top-weight, and has a highly-consistent profile. However, this might come too soon…
1pt win Bonny Kate @8/1, 0.75pts EW Another Hero @12/1, 0.5pt EW Bless The Wings @18/1, 17:00 Fairyhouse
In recent years, the Irish Grand National winner has tended to come from horses with the profile of an improving novice chaser. This was the case with Thunder And Roses last year, and Shutthefrontdoor the year before. There are plenty in this race that could be a similar type of…
1pt win Fire In Soul @9/1, 15:40 Fairyhouse, Sunday
Fairyhouse hosts the Irish Grand National on Monday, but there’s plenty of top-class racing throughout Sunday’s card too. In the 15:40, a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle, Bryan Cooper opts for Nambour over Fire In Soul and Crest, the three runners for Gigginstown. Nambour looks well held by Acapella Bourgeois after…
1pt win Sole Power @13/2, 1pt win Lady Shipman @16/1, 14:10 Meydan, Saturday
It’s World Cup night in Dubai and Sole Power is back to defend his title in the Al Quoz Sprint, over his favourite trip of five furlongs (watch last year’s renewal above). He’s been there and done it before, and is the first name on the shortlist after being so…
1pt ew Cogry @8/1, 16:10 Uttoxeter
COGRY shaped with promise over an inadequate trip at Warwick last time out, when he finished behind the talented Taquin De Seuil, and Niceonefrankie. His performance in the Welsh Grand National the time before should be scratched, where like so many others, he never handled the conditions. He remains quite fresh this…
2pts win Townshend @5/2, 15:15 Kempton
Willie Mullins’s horses were in fine form at the Cheltenham Festival, as he and Ruby Walsh racked up seven wins. One horse we’d been keeping close track of after his stable tour and a promising stable début behind Squouateur at Fairyhouse is TOWNSHEND, who was expected to run in yesterday’s County…