Ladies Day was a kinder one to punters than the opening day, with three favourites doing the business. It’s now time for the third and final day of our Aintree Tips for 2019, for Grand National day itself.
Min produced a scintillating performance in the JLT Melling Chase yesterday and his trainer Willie Mullins will be hoping to continue his good run of form with four runners in the showpiece event, the Grand National.
The biggest race of the season is upon us and you can see our Grand National Tips where we have one selection which we put up antepost, plus another couple who we think can run huge races.
Tiger Roll will be aiming to become the first horse since Red Rum to win the prestigious event back to back and is a very short price to do so.
The opening top level contest of the day is the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle, where nothing splits Brewin’Upastorm, Chosen Mate and Angels Breath on official ratings. The former was an excellent fourth in the Ballymore at Cheltenham and that form got a boost with Champ winning the Sefton yesterday. Chosen Mate skipped Prestbury Park so comes here a fresher horse than Angels Breath who was disappointing in the Supreme.
The Maghull Novices’ Chase is a fast and furious two miles where Lalor will be aiming to make it three wins in a row at the Aintree Grand National Festival, having won a Bumper and a Novice Hurdle here. But Us And Them has bumped into some very smart rivals so far this season and could get his well-earned day in the sun.
Star mare Apple’s Jade will aim to get back to winning ways in the Ryanair Stayers’ Hurdle having disappointed in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. She was a facile 41-length winner at this festival back in 2016 and could produce yet another top class performance.
The best bet of the day for us can only be Apple’s Jade. Her performances in Ireland this season have been nothing short of exceptional and she is simply a superstar. A 41-length romp at this meeting three years ago shows her liking for the track and will be near impossible to stop if in that sort of form once again.
She scoped dirty after her flop in the Champion Hurdle, but in general she has under-performed at Cheltenham in the past anyway so we’re expecting a much better showing here.
In the big race of the day, Noble Endeavor could outrun his lofty odds in the Grand National. He’s one of those horses that we can’t help but think has a big pot in him, given the great races he’s run. Most notably when falling two fences from home in the National Hunt Chase when close up behind Minella Rocco and Native River.
He had a sighter of these unique fences in December when returning from a 600-day layoff before producing an eye-catching run in the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, staying on past rivals to suggest this stamina test could see him to better effect.
Aintree has been an extremely profitable hunting ground for Colin Tizzard in recent times. He has a 23% strike rate at the venue with an impressive £93.49 profit to £1 stakes over the past five years. Interestingly, that strike rate increases to 50% when Robbie Power is on board. They team up with Tizzard’s first runner with other jockey’s on the rest.