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Cannot wait for this race.
Celestial Halo should be beaten, but with him being installed as favorite, or so it would appear, I think I may end up going on jered, with perhaps a reverse Foecast on the pair.
It certainly looks a very good card,and I imagine there will be quite a few opinions on this race.
Indeed it does. The main ones coming from the Champion Hurdle look like they could benefit from being stepped up in trip (CH, Katchit), and ground will be to Jered’s liking, but whether that hard race is the best preparation for this, I’m not so sure. Al Eile’s been poorly but has had an encouraging prep run. Catch Me skipped Chelters for this. It should be a very good race. I wonder if if skipping out Chelters could pay dividends.
Catch Me has been making the right noises at this distance and it does seem to be Catch Me’s optimum distance.
I cant believe Celestial Halo is 6/4 favourite on the exchanges at the moment. I’d personally have Al Eile, Catch Me and Jered ahead of him in the market.
It’s a cracking race but I’ll be on Catch Me at 4/1 or better
I’d want to be against the horses that ran in the Champion Hurdle in this. Celestial Halo in particular had a very hard race.
This race is made for Al Eile and he didn’t show any signs of anything physically bothering him on the sand at Dundalk. Catch Me has been very consistent this year but I’m not sure whether the ground will suit.
Fiveforthree is the one that catches my eye. Slow to come to hand at home earlier on in the season but looked on very good terms with himself when not coming off the bridle in allbeit a weakish contest at Wexford. He should arrive here a fresh horse and the form of last years Ballymore has worked out fairly well with both Forpadydeplasterer and Trafford Lad amongst the best in the novice chase division.
Presumably Ruby will ride the Nicholls horse but young Townend is an excellent deputy as he’s showed on several occasions this season.
Cracking race – Looking forward to it a lot.
Celestial Halo hasn’t had a tough season but he had a hard race in the champion and I don’t think this course suits him at all; he has no turn of foot. Catch Me I like a lot but only on soft ground, he is not the same horse on quicker ground, which looks likely. Five for three is also dangerous but i’m willing to take him on with two of the other Irish raiders.
Solwhit is a horse I like a lot. He has a turn of foot, stays well and is still improving but having said that i’d be surprised if he turned up.
Al Eile would be my other fancy. He’s fresh, loves the track, loves this race and ran a cracker on comeback. He ticks all the boxes in my opinion.
I’d want to be against the horses that ran in the Champion Hurdle in this.
JERED, never had a race in the champion hurdle, i would give him a major
chance over Aintree"s 21/2m on Good ground! 12 on Betfair!Definitely wouldn’t say he had no race at Cheltenham. David Casey said he got a bad bump early on in the race and that the horse never really jumped as a consequence of this for the first mile. I’d say he had a much harder race than the naked eye would suggest.
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I wouldn’t write off Celestial Halo at all over this distance.
He was always going to struggle last year over a sharp 2m against a speed horse like Binocular, but should be a different proposition – even on the same sharp track – over half a mile further.
It might be worth remembering that Paul Nicholls has said, on a number of occasions, that CH was over the top for Aintree last season, yet brings the horse here with a 5 day shorter break between races this. If anyone believes he is daft enough to make the same mistake twice, then bet against him; imo, given he’ll improve again for the step up in trip, it will take a run of Binocular-like proportions to beat him, and I don’t see anything in the race capable of one.I will take your invitation to bet against him. CH is the first horse i rule out of this race from a punting perspective. Too short a price on the wrong track and the wrong ground shortly after being pushed to his limit at Cheltenham to hold off Bino. This is clearly a secondary target for the horse and i dont suppose for one minute we would see him entered had he won the Cheltenham renewal.
I definitely wouldnt rule out celestial halo over this trip, he takes his racing very well and put in a good run here last year, after a very hard race in the triumph, he was never going to beat binocular on such a sharp 2 miles but he still beat home everything else and some of them were better suited to the 2miles at aintree and were well fancied on the day.
The extra 4 furlongs will be right up his street and over this distance he should really show his class.
I can only really see Katchit winning if this turns into a slow paced speed contest.
Catch Me IMO will more than likely lack the gears needed to compete in this sort of grade, over this trip and on this sort of surface, as will Fiveforthree I would expect. This is different gravy to where their best form has been shown.
Al Eile is obviously the one to beat but I think the Halo is a different class and should have everything right.
Jered interests me as I dont think he really got going until late on in the Champ Hurdle, in a race which I personally think was more about speed than stamina, and he should go well around here, he moved well on good ground last season, and should have the right stamina/speed to show somewhere nearer his best IMO, whether that is enough to beat Celestial Halo (or even Al Eile) is something we wont knowe until after, but he looks like he should be a decent each way price.
Al Eile has previously been at an advantage, as he handles a better surface so well compared to his opposition, however Celestial Halo also handles a better surface just as well as him, has been crying out for a step up and looks a better horse. This will be Al Eile’s hardest test to date round Aintree IMO.
Whilst he isn’t a guaranteed stayer, Solwhit shapes like a horse who will be suited by the step-up in trip, he will like the ground, and his form looks increasingly compelling, following Ninetieth Minute’s win at the Festival and his defeat of Jazz Messenger in the Red Mills.
Has to improve, but I think he has a proper chance.
Fiveforthree is very very classy – will take what is a trappy but some of them are over the top contest
I didn’t expect to be backing Celestial Halo in this but he’s out to 5.7 now on Betfair which is a big price for a horse just touched off in the Champion and likely to be suited by today’s step up in trip.
This really is a fantastic race.
Not surprised the front two are available at 4 or 5 as there are so many questions about a number of candidates.
Richard Johnson reckons he would have finished much closer in the CH but had problems at the start and I think the sharp track will suit Snap Tie, even if any rain might not help.
Katchit’s run at Cheltenham suggested he’d appreciate this trip but I wonder whether Aintree is really for him, irrespective of the trip.
Having said all that I’m going to back those two mentioned above, plus Whiteoak. She ran a great race at Wincanton, stays and likes Aintree; and with question marks against the others I’m happy to take these three at decent prices.
Best race of the meeting I reckon.
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