FOR THE BIG GUNS
A BANQUET of tasty morsels will provide the perfect appetisers to the main course of the Grand National at Aintree next week.
The world’s greatest steeplechase over the 30 famous fences is building up to be another fantastic spectacle.
But some of jump racing’s biggest stars will also grace the other graded races at the three-day Aintree Festival, which starts on Thursday.
Nicky Henderson is ready to fire three of his big guns next week with Cheltenham Festival heroes BUVEUR D’AIR and ALTIOR likely to head to Merseyside.
And Gold Cup runner-up MIGHT BITE, who ran a gallant race behind Native River, looks poised to seek compensation in the Betway Bowl. Henderson’s holy trinity of equine stars will complete their preparation this weekend before their participation is confirmed.
Dual Champion Hurdler Buveur D’Air will bid for an 11th straight victory in the Betway Aintree Hurdle on Thursday and heads a 16-strong entry for the Grade One contest that he won last year.
JP McManus’ star scrambled home from Melon in a pulsating finish to the Champion Hurdle last month.
He faces a formidable rival in SUPASUNDAE, runner-up in the Stayers’ Hurdle to Penhill and a horse who could find the two-and-a-half mile trip to his liking. Nigel TwistonDavies’ popular THE NEW ONE, successful in 2014, is in the mix, as is Paul Nicholls’ OLD GUARD.
Henderson has reported that King George VI Chase winner Might Bite has been working and schooling well and he is among the 11 entries for Thursday’s Betway Bowl.
The horse ran a marvellous race in the Gold Cup on ground that he would not have enjoyed and the prospect of a better surface and the flat Aintree track should be up his street. He also won over the track and trip in the Grade One Betway Mildmay Novices’ Chase last year.
He could reoppose Brian Ellison’s DEFINITLY RED and last year’s Bowl winner TEA FOR TWO, who both finished behind him at Cheltenham. But he may have most to fear from another Cheltenham victor, BALKO DES FLOS.
The success of Henry de Bromhead’s raider was largely unheralded in the midst of Cue Card’s disappointing run but he did put Un De Sceaux firmly in his place in the Ryanair Chase.
Also in the mix is BRISTOL DE MAI, who will be fresh after missing Cheltenham and also having had a wind operation.
On Friday, ALTIOR, whose burst of speed up the Cheltenham hill in the Champion Chase will live long in the memory, steps up in trip in the Melling Chase over two-and-ahalf miles.
He has won 13 races on the spin and is close to being regarded in the same superstar category as former stablemate Sprinter Sacre.
DOUVAN, who fell when leading in the Champion Chase, still holds an entry but whether Willie Mullins sends him over or not the race will still attract quality opposition with the likes of TOP NOTCH, CLOUDY DREAM and POLITOLOGUE.
One of the most visually impressive winners at Cheltenham was FOOTPAD, who was given a peach of a ride by Ruby Walsh in the Arkle Trophy. He is pencilled in for the Doom Bar Maghull Novices’ Chase on Saturday and it will take a very good one to topple him.