Aintree’s three-day Grand National meeting has much more to it than the Grand National itself but, unfortunately, most casual viewers will confine themselves to the ‘main event’ on Saturday afternoon.
This year the John Smith’s Melling Chase on Friday 5 April could be the highlight of the whole meeting.
Sprinter Sacre, the impressive winner of the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, will be stepping up in distance to two and a half miles for the first time. If there are any doubts about his ability to stay the extra furlongs they will be seized upon by Cue Card, winner of the Ryanair Chase, a winner over hurdles round this Aintree course and distance earlier in his career.
They will both be taking on the Irish gelding Flemenstar, who was last seen being beaten by Sir Des Champs in the Hennessey Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February. The Melling Chase will be Flemenstar’s first trip across the Irish Sea to race in the UK and, whilst two and half miles is his ideal distance, the drying ground at Aintree could be a concern. His wins have tended to come on softer going.
One horse that will appreciate the firmer ground is Finian’s Rainbow, who won this race in 2012. He is the oldest horse in the race and has finished a well-beaten last on his two runs since then, behind Cue Card and For Non Stop on separate occasions. But both defeats were on ground described as heavy and soft respectively.
Clearly Finian’s Rainbow has to improve on those runs and Sprinter Sacre is rated vastly superior to all of his rivals. But 14/1 about Finian’s Rainbow, a previous winner and getting ground that suits, appeals for an each-way bet.
Elsewhere at Aintree, Silviniaco Conti will attempt to get things back on track in the Betfair Bowl Chase (Thursday 14.30) after falling in the Betfred Gold Cup at Cheltenham last time.
The New One, Grandouet, Zarkandar, and Countrywide Flame line up against each other in the John Smith’s Aintree Hurdle (Thursday 15.05). The last three all contested the Stan James Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last month with Countrywide Flame finishing third and Zarkandar fourth. It promises to be another hot contest with Festival winner The New One thrown in to the mix for good measure.
