Alex can put it in the Bank
Alex Hales’ Millers Bank has class on his side, and the Old Roan Chase at Aintree today is his early-season target.
This Grade 2 contest over two-and-a-half miles is a step down from the Grade 1 he collected at the Grand National meeting.
The eight-year-old wasn’t as good at Punchestown in April, but perhaps that came just a little too soon after his course success.
The Skelton horses are firing, and Hidden Heroics can be a winner in the staying conditional jockey’s race, which opens the card.
The five-year-old won two of his three races in the spring, and was narrowly beaten in a Class 3 at Ayr in April.
The handicapper assessed him at 115 after his three-quarter-length second to City Chief at Ayr, so 120 seems fair after a second win.
We have to take Mexico’s fitness on trust – after almost a year off – but he ran well following a similar absence last October.
That was in a hot Ascot race, which has thrown up a stack of winners, when he was four-and-a-quarter lengths behind Kandoo Kid.