John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Thursday.
Three points of interest
Mullins and Townend can take Manifesto again
The Grand National meeting gets under way with a mouth-watering Manifesto Novices’ Chase (13:45) over two and a half miles, a Grade 1 which is certainly none the worse for no longer having an equivalent contest at Cheltenham weeks beforehand. That forced the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase runner-up Jango Baie to go for the Arkle at the Festival where he struggled for pace for much of the two-mile contest but charged home to pass three rivals late on and snatch an unlikely victory. While the extra half-mile here is therefore a big plus, he did have a tough race at Cheltenham.
Gidleigh Park, on the other hand, has been kept fresh for this since January when getting off the mark over fences at the second attempt in the Lightning Novices’ Chase at Windsor where he made all to beat subsequent Festival winner Caldwell Potter and can improve again. Croke Park is a dual Grade 1 winner in Ireland whose unbeaten record over fences was only ended by Ballyburn at the Dublin Racing Festival and he’s another to consider.
However, this can go to Impaire Et Passe who finished a place behind Croke Park at Leopardstown last time after going in snatches but like that rival has had a break since and is fitted with headgear (cheekpieces) for the first time. Yet to finish worse than third in his career, Impaire Et Passe was a high-class hurdler who came out best in a three-way photo for the Aintree Hurdle on this card a year ago, so he acts on the track, and won his first two starts over fences, including the Grade 1 Faugheen Novice at Limerick in December. He can provide Willie Mullins and Paul Townend with another victory in a race they took twelve months ago with Il Etait Temps.
Grey Dawning the one to beat in competitive Bowl
Just 5 lb covers the top five on Timeform ratings in the Bowl Chase (14:55), making for a competitive contest between some at least high-class chasers. Paul Nicholls has won this a record six times, most recently with dual winner Clan des Obeaux in 2021 and 2022, which means Stage Star needs respecting despite patchy form since winning last season’s Paddy Power Gold Cup. His last run in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January when pushing L’Homme Presse close showed he was right back to form as well as proving he has the stamina for this contest.
Ahoy Senor often finds the fences getting in his way, such as when falling in the Gold Cup last time, as he did in 2023, but his record at Aintree stands up really well, having won twice at this meeting in the past and finishing runner-up in the last two renewals of this race behind Shishkin and, last year, Gerri Colombe. He’s therefore dangerous to rule out.
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The Irish challenge is headed by Spillane’s Tower who comes out just best of these in the Timeform ratings. A dual Grade 1 winner in novice company at home last season, he ran a career best when going down by half a length to Fact To File in the John Durkan at Punchestown on his reappearance. That made him favourite for the King George VI Chase but some mistakes in the back straight didn’t help his cause and he never got competitive in fifth. He comes here fresh and is unexposed over three miles plus.
Preference, though, is for Grey Dawning who was a beaten favourite for the Manifesto on this card a year ago after winning at Cheltenham. Returning with a very good second in the Betfair Chase, Grey Dawning was another who didn’t give his running in the King George, when possibly still feeling the effects of a gruelling race in the mud at Haydock, but he was right back to his zestful best in the Premier Chase at Kelso last month which should tee him up nicely for this bigger test. Grey Dawning jumped superbly when making all to beat leading Grand National hope Iroko at Kelso and Dan Skelton’s decision to miss Cheltenham with him this year could well reap rewards here instead.
Constitution Hill and Lossiemouth meet again
There was disappointment in some quarters that Lossiemouth wasn’t among Constitution Hill’s rivals in last month’s Champion Hurdle and their contrasting fortunes at the Festival certainly raises the question of what might have been. While Lossiemouth proved a class apart from her rivals in the Mares’ Hurdle, which she won for the second year running, just over half an hour later Constitution Hill crashed out of the Champion Hurdle as the odds-on favourite for a race he’d won in 2023, thereby losing his unblemished record after ten straight wins.
But Constitution Hill and Lossiemouth meet instead over the extra half-mile of the Aintree Hurdle (15:30) which Constitution Hill won two years ago after his Champion Hurdle triumph. They have already met this season in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton where Lossiemouth didn’t go unsupported in a race where Constitution Hill was returning from a year off. However, over Kempton’s flat two miles, Lossiemouth could never muster the pace to trouble Constitution Hill who had two and a half lengths to spare at the line.
In a race where neither performed near their best, that’s not really a true reflection of how the pair measure up form-wise, with Constitution Hill’s best form giving him a 12 lb advantage on Timeform ratings, even taking Lossiemouth’s mares’ allowance into account. Constitution Hill’s fall at Cheltenham means we’re none the wiser about how much of his outstanding ability he retains and Lossiemouth’s supporters can point to this longer trip suiting her better than in their first meeting at Kempton, but Constitution Hill is selected to take Nicky Henderson’s record number of Aintree Hurdles to seven.
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