The Timeform TV Focus team pick out the best bets for the ITV racing at Aintree on Thursday.
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Aintree
1.45 1 pt – 4 Gidleigh Park
There are reasons for looking a little beyond the very top of the betting in the Manifesto, with some doubts about Jango Baie’s Arkle - a hard race little more than three weeks ago - even if this trip should suit much better, and Impaire Et Passe now sporting cheekpieces having gone with uncharacteristically little zest when last seen at the Dublin Racing Festival. The obvious alternative at the prices is Gidleigh Park, who’s right up there on form anyway with his Windsor success when last seen in January handsomely advertised by the runner-up Caldwell Potter’s subsequent win in the Golden Miller at the Festival. Gidleigh Park went with a lot of enthusiasm in front that day but might be even better taking a lead in this – there are others in the field that’ll be keen to lead – and he comes here fresh and open to more improvement than anything.
2.20 1 pt – 3 Filibustering
The Fred Winter winner Puturhandstogether sets the standard in the Anniversary and lines up open to more improvement judged on how readily he completed the task at Cheltenham. He’s probably priced about right though, and there is no shortage of potential on show elsewhere, with Filibustering well worth having on side at double-figure odds. A reliable performer on the Flat for Tim Easterby, he looked a natural when scoring by a wide margin starting out over hurdles for Harry Derham at Kelso just over a month ago. It’s true that he didn’t beat much that day, but the visual impression – he pinged his way around from the front – was striking and he carries the Timeform large P, denoting the likelihood of him finding the significant progress that’ll be required to figure in a race like this.
2.55 1 pt – 6 Spillane’s Tower
Three of these ran at Cheltenham but the others looked to have been kept back with this race in mind and those may well be the ones to focus on. Grey Dawning created a fine impression at Kelso and has been laid out for this by target trainer par excellence Dan Skelton. He’ll surely go well but at a bigger price it’s arguable that Spillane’s Tower has the stronger form. He was disappointing in the King George when last seen, but it’s worth remembering that he went off at just 11/4 for that race, and his preceding second in the John Durkan – when half a length behind Fact To File (and ahead of the likes of Galopin des Champs, Fastorslow and Inothewayurthinkin) over that one’s optimum trip reads extremely well. That run came back from a break, so it’s no bad thing that Spillane’s Tower been freshened up since Christmas, and it's worth noting that he was bang in form around this time last year, when landing Grade 1 novices at both Fairyhouse and Punchestown.
3.30 2 pts – 5 Lossiemouth
Anyone seeking some clarity in the two-mile hurdle ranks were left disappointed by the premier race in the division at Cheltenham, with the most notable story not necessarily State Man’s fall but perhaps Constitution Hill’s given it represented the first defeat of the great hurdler’s career. The peak of Constitution Hill’s form towers over those seeking to bloody his nose again in the Aintree Hurdle but questions have to be asked as to what he can do at full capacity nowadays, given physical setbacks along the way as well as the bare form of his two wins to start this comeback season. Lossiemouth is the rival who got closest across that unbeaten start to the campaign and, unlike Constitution Hill, she has already shown no ill-effects from a heavy fall by breezing around in landing a second successive David Nicholson at the Festival. Kempton suggests the gap between the pair isn’t so vast as ratings based on old form might make it appear, but another potentially telling point is this race in 2023, which saw the reigning Champion Hurdler look like coasting home entering the straight only to end up rather scrambling home from two Irish-trained rivals (Sharjah and Zanahiyr) not in the same league as Lossiemouth. All in all, this looks a time to let the head rule the heart and oppose Constitution Hill, with the preceding fall, unimpressive win in this race in his pomp and Lossiemouth’s ongoing progress all reasons for believing he’s fallible.
4.05 1.5 pts – 17 Lifetime Ambition
Following in the trend of recent years, very few are being asked to back up in this having raced in the St. James’s Place at Cheltenham, indeed only three of those who chased home Wonderwall have been declared with Willitgoahead the most notable of the trio. An excellent third, he shaped as though this test would suit better still but the quick turnaround and his relative lack of experience are enough to take him on with one of those who has been aimed solely at this race. 2023 winner Famous Clermont fits that bill having been absent under Rules since a victory in Stratford in May of last year, he’ll have been sharpened up by a couple of recent point runs and has conditions in his favour. My Drogo looked a potentially top-class performer when he burst onto the scene as a novice hurdler, things haven’t gone to plan since but easy wins in a point and a valuable Haydock hunter this year show he still retains plenty of his ability and he looks the sort to take to the track. It’s Lifetime Ambition, however, who makes most appeal with him able to provide the blend of back-class that My Drogo boasts as well as the course experience and effectiveness of Famous Clermont. He took superbly to the track on his two previous starts here and a reproduction of the form of his Punchestown second to Its On The Line last May would be good enough to win the majority of renewals.
4.40 1 pt – 9 Sans Bruit
Wind back the clock twelve months and things were a lot rosier for a couple of Nicholls-trained chasers marching through the ranks. Ginny’s Destiny just hasn’t got going at all this time around and similar comments could easily be applied to Sans Bruit, but it doesn’t take much charity to believe the latter’s chequered record may go out of the window now returning to the scene of his finest hour as a novice. Sans Bruit relished the demands on speed and quick jumping that are fundamentals in the 2024 edition of the Red Rum, a race in which the pace tends to hold up remarkably well considering the usual field size and number of prominent racers (such types seemingly much reduced this time around, to further aid his cause). And it isn’t all that long ago that he shaped well in the Haldon Gold Cup first time back. Granted, things have indeed been mixed since, but he’s had the trip at Kempton and Chepstow soft ground as viable excuses on his last two starts and if he’s going to capitalise on a mark that has fallen back to 130 then it will surely be in a race that suited his style so well last season, having been freshened up since his latest disappointment, a pattern followed by the stable’s Cheltenham winner Caldwell Potter.
You can access the TV Focus selections and rationale at 5pm the evening before racing for £7.50 on the Timeform website.
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