Aintree Grand National Festival preview and tips: Thursday key questions answered
Our experts tackle some of the big questions ahead of Thursday's top-quality card on day one of the Grand National Festival.
1. How will the Triumph Hurdle form stack up against the fresh challengers in the Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle?
David Ord: Kargese looked the fastest horse in the Cheltenham race before being outstayed by the tank that is Majborough. It was a performance that screamed Aintree, but it was also a relatively hard race on testing ground. If she’s at her best, I can’t see anything that finished behind her at Cheltenham reversing form. However, Sir Gino’s performance on Trials Day still burns bright in the memory and he’s a huge threat, Kalif Du Berlais is two from two for Paul Nicholls and bang up there on Timeform ratings, while Kala Conti is interesting for Gordon Elliott. She beat Kargese over Christmas before finishing fifth behind her rival at the Dublin Racing Festival. She’s fresh and another capable of a bold show.
Tony McFadden: Kargese will be the one to beat on the figures in receipt of her 7 lb sex allowance, and she should be well suited by Aintree's sharper, flatter track as she looked the likely winner of the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham when cruising to the front early in the straight only to be outstayed after the final flight. However, I think Sir Gino will be up to the task. He was taken out of the Triumph on account of Nicky Henderson's poor stable form but had dominated the ante-post betting for that event after looking like such an outstanding prospect on Trials Day, covering the distance from the final flight to the line faster than Lossiemouth did later on the same card, despite carrying 5 lb more than last season's Triumph Hurdle winner. He could be something special and a cut above his Aintree rivals.
Matt Brocklebank: I hope the big names all turn up here as we're clearly looking at a very good race. My suspicion at this stage is that Kargese might be kept fresh for Punchestown but that's just a guess and it'd be great to see the Triumph runner-up clash with Sir Gino and Kalif Du Berlais. Unlike Sir Gino, Paul Nicholls' horse has been aimed at this race for several months now and I reckon the forecast conditions will be right up his street given his sire Masked Marvel has produced loads of soft ground performers including recent Stayers' Hurdle hero Teahupoo.
2. How do you see Shishkin versus Gerri Colombe playing out in the Aintree Bowl Chase?
David Ord: If Sir Gino has won, then it will be all aboard the Shishkin train for plenty. He would probably have won the King George but for unshipping Nico De Boinville two out and looked all about stamina when thumping Hitman in the Denman at Newbury. However, there are reservations that come with him and Gerri Colombe looks a rock-solid alternative. He produced the performance of his life to chase home Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup last time. In 2023 he won at this meeting having hit the frame at Prestbury Park and I think he'll follow suit this time. We might not have seen the best of him yet either, not a comment that applies to his rival.
Tony McFadden: Gerri Colombe ran a cracker in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, staying on all the way to the line and producing a career-best performance behind Galopin Des Champs, but that big effort may have taken a bit out of him and tilts things in the favour of Shishkin who, like Sir Gino, missed the Festival on account of the Henderson stable form. Shishkin is arguably a better horse in any case and, while he's chucked in the odd moody performance, it's hard to knock his record as a staying chaser with his form at around three miles or further comprising a gritty win in this race 12 months ago, an unfortunate exit in the King George when set to win and then a comfortable victory in the Denman Chase.
Matt Brocklebank: Another potentially very exciting clash and it's very hard to crab the track record of Gerri Colombe, who has finished first or second in all 12 of his starts under Rules, winning nine. His gutsy second to Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup was a new career best and he was really impressive when sauntering to victory in the top-class novice event on this card 12 months ago.
3. Langer Dan will attract plenty of interest in the William Hill Aintree Hurdle – can the Coral Cup winner make the step up here?
David Ord: Maybe – but only maybe – and even a generous reading of that March win would mean he needs to find 10 or 12 pounds more on Thursday to shake up the best of these. That could be Irish Point who ran so well to finish second in the Champion Hurdle behind State Man over a trip clearly short of his best. But the one I like is the rejuvenated Bob Olinger, who has been kept fresh and targeted here since finishing second in the Irish Champion and this silky-smooth traveller will give them all plenty to think about.
Tony McFadden: I'd be surprised if he were good enough. It was a fine bit of training by Dan Skelton to get Langer Dan back at concert pitch for the Festival, but he'd also been given a big chance by the handicapper as he was running off the same mark he had defied in the Coral Cup 12 months earlier. The likes of Bob Olinger, Irish Point and Impaire Et Passe are rated at least 10 lb higher with Timeform and have Grade 1 form to their name this season, so I'd expect Langer Dan to come up short. Bob Olinger has looked right back at the top of his game this season and appeals as the one to beat.
Matt Brocklebank: I know most punters will be happy to sit tight with Langer Dan, until he rocks up for a third Coral Cup back at Cheltenham next March, but every horse does have a price and I won't be ruling him out too hastily at double-figure odds, given his trainer is gunning for the trainers' title and there's a huge prize up for grabs. First Street was on my radar at the Festival and he's another to note here, while Nemean Lion could be ideally suited to this track and trip after being outpaced in the Champion Hurdle.
4. Give us another name to note among the six-day entries on day one…
David Ord: Saint Roi looked to have been laid out for the Grand Annual and ran well to finish sixth behind Unexpected Party having made a couple of bad mistakes and been forced to race wider than ideal. Given a clearer shot at things, at a track where he chased home Banbridge in the Grade One Manifesto Novices’ Chase last season, he looks sure to go well for Messrs Mullins and McManus.
Tony McFadden: Tommy's Oscar often impresses with how strongly he travels and he appeals as one who may be well suited by the demands of the Red Rum Chase, which is usually run at a flat-out gallop and takes plenty of horses out of their comfort zone. Tommy's Oscar will have to jump straighter than he did at Doncaster, where shifting out to his right cost him, but he's largely an accurate jumper and a 2 lb drop in the weights means he's now back down to a mark he defied with ease on his return at Kelso in October.
Matt Brocklebank: I think Corbetts Cross definitely deserves a mention. He sluiced through the heavy going when winning the National Hunt Chase like the class act he'd always promised he could be and it's fascinating to see trainer Emmet Mullins having given him entries in the Manifesto Novices' Chase as well as the Aintree Bowl Chase.
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