We pick out three horses who will have no problem with forecast ground conditions on day one of Aintree's Grand National Festival.
Kargese – 14:20 Aintree
Most eyes will be on Sir Gino here, but he is yet to race on ground worse than soft, and his best effort came in quicker conditions at Cheltenham in January.
Kargese, on the other hand, will have no problem with likely conditions, and she ran a cracker when runner-up to stablemate Majborough in the Triumph Hurdle last time.
She travelled through that contest very well but was just outstayed in the closing stages. The switch to this flat, sharper track will be in her favour and she must have strong claims of resuming winning ways taking her sex allowance into consideration.
Romeo Magico – 16:05 Aintree
Emmet Mullins has a strong hand in the Foxhunters with Its On The Line and Romeo Magico and preference is for the latter given the former failed to complete in this race 12 months ago.
Romeo Magico is experienced in points and made a winning start under Rules in a heavy-ground hunter at Limerick in December, given a confident ride and having a bit up his sleeve.
He lost little in defeat behind Ferns Lock at Thurles next time, showing improved form and leaving the impression he has more to offer, and he made the most of a good opportunity last time.
This is a deeper race he finds himself in now, but he impressed with how he jumped at Down Royal last time, and is fancied to take well to these fences in conditions which will suit.
Heltenham – 16:40 Aintree
A typically strong renewal of this handicap chase and the in-form Heltenham, who handles testing ground particularly well, is fancied to go close once more.
He finally had everything fall into place when resuming winning ways at Newbury last month, producing a performance which confirmed himself some way ahead of his mark, and he proved better than ever when following up at the same course 19 days ago.
Heltenham again went through that race like a horse who has even more to offer, responding well to pressure to land good support. He drops back to two miles now, but in these conditions that shouldn’t prove a problem, while he is also likely to get a good pace to aim at.
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