Andrew Asquith has two selections at Aintree in his latest Sunday View column, including one in a competitive renewal of the Old Roan.
Sunday View: Sunday October 25
2pts win Monbeg Genius in the 14:25 Aintree at 10/3 (bet365)
1pt win Wendigo in the 15:00 Aintree at 13/2 (William Hill)
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There is the potential for heavy downpours through the early hours on Sunday morning at Aintree as Storm Austen makes his was to Merseyside and that has forced officials to have a precautionary inspection at 8am tomorrow morning.
Conditions could therefore deteriorate dramatically from now until then, and the percentage call is to side with the proven mudlarks.
One of those is MONBEG GENIUS who goes in the William Hill Vieux Lion Rouge Veterans’ Handicap Chase. He isn’t a frequent winner by any means, but he contested some of the strongest handicaps around last season, and he was far from disgraced in any.
His best effort came when finishing an excellent third in the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival where he reacted well to the fitting of first-time blinkers, giving best to a pair who were three years his junior and also well placed given how the race panned out.
Monbeg Genius made a gallant effort from the front on his final start in the Irish Grand National, jumping well and leaving the impression he was still in top form, but was unable to recover from being hampered by a faller at the third-last.
He represents a yard who have hit form in the last week or so, having four winners at the time of writing, and Monbeg Genius has a very good record in soft or heavy ground. Furthermore, this will be his first foray into veterans’ company, and he’s used to contesting much stronger races than this. His record when fresh is mixed, but there’s enough in his favour to suggest he’s ready to take advantage of this mark.
It looks a competitive renewal of the William Hill Old Roan Limited Handicap Chase and there’s no doubt that the Dan Skelton-trained Boombawn has been targeted at this. He finished fourth on his reappearance in this race 12 months ago on his seasonal reappearance, but this time around he’s had a pipe-opener over hurdles at Chepstow this time round, and he’s now 10lb lower in the weights.
He’s clearly got a very good chance for the best target trainer around, but WENDIGO is a horse to follow this season and, if the forecast rain arrives, he may be able to take advantage despite this drop back in trip probably not being ideal.
Another cause for concern is that the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury is possibly his main early-season target, but this is a valuable prize in its own right, and you’d have to think he’s coming here having done enough work.
He had some strong novice form last season, winning the Grade 2 John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury, and ran well to finish third to subsequent Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner Kitzbuhel in the Kauto Star at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Wendigo also completed a simple task at Ayr before falling in the aforementioned race at the Cheltenham Festival and for whatever reason he just wasn’t in the same form in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase at this course on his final start.
The feeling is an opening mark of 147 is a lenient one now entering handicaps for the first time in his career and he also loves testing conditions, so the more rain that falls the better for him, especially back at two and a half miles.
Preview posted at 16:00 BST on 24/20/2026
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