Friday 13th April 2018

Might Bite was very impressive on day 1 of the Grand National Aintree meeting, there was never a moments worry for his backers. Might Bite jumped great, travelled very strongly and won as he liked. The win can be marked up in my opinion as Might Bite had a real war against Native River in the Gold Cup just 3 weeks ago. He’s a very very good horse. His odds of 10-11 looked generous before the race and so it proved.

On a different note, our new horse Stung For Cash is by Scorpion who is the same sire of Might Bite. Stung For Cash actually looks like Might Bite, if he can run like him that would be handy!

We have A Dream dotted up in the Juvenile Hurdle, the win made it 5 out of 5 since going jumping. He’s look an exciting horse and should be a leading player next season.

It was good start punting wise, however ladies’ day at Aintree is normally a day I struggle with. Big fields, plenty of handicap races and a bumper. More rain “unsurprisingly” has fallen over night whilst it’s rained this morning too. It’s going to be very testing.

I’ve backed Bedrock EW in the 2:20 at a huge 50-1. He shouldn’t be that price but does need to find a bit more. Bedrock stays further and will be fine on the ground. I think he’ll out run his odds and could place at big odds. A few bookies are paying 4 places.

I was all over Min at Cheltenham and he looked the winner for 90% of the race until Altior kicked in the afterburners. Min steps up in trip today by 4 furlongs. He’ll likely get the trip and if he does will likely win but I can’t back him at 11-10 with a distance questions mark. It’s not worth the risk as such odds.

The Topham Chase is a great race and one of my favourite of the year. Big Bad John would be my speculative pick. Big Bad John won nicely on stable debut and was once rated 144, runs off 138 today. He jumps well and stays further. 25-1 is his best price, place your bets with bookies paying 6 places.

The bumper is a minefield, Danny Kirwan trained by Paul Nicholls comes with a big reputation. I’m told he’s the apple of the trainer’s eye. 13-8 is plenty short enough in such a race but he’d be my selection.

For the last two weeks I’ve been backing Regal Encore at 33-1 for the Grand National. Regal Encore was set a huge amount to do last year but finished the race very strongly. This year’s slower ground will help. Regal Encore arrives in good form and runs off the same mark as last year. I think he'll go well with luck in running.