‘His record here reads 112’ – Best bets on Day 1 of the Aintree Festival

Aintree’s Grand National Festival kicks off on Thursday and there’s plenty to look forward to across the seven-race card. Four Grade 1 races make it a cracking card and there should be plenty of quality on show. We’ve picked out a best bet for the day and one longshot that needs to go under consideration.

Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing, where we’ll provide a tip for every race at Aintree over all three days. Consider signing up with Betfred to take advantage of their awesome promotion which shouldn’t be missed.

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There will be plenty of new customer offers flying around this week but few will be better than Betfred’s bet £10 get £5o in bonuses promotion. All you need to do is open an account with Betfred using the promo code ‘WELCOME50’ and place a qualifying bet of £10 or more. Full terms and conditions can be found here and they provide all the information you need to know. Click the bet banner link to get involved!

Best Bet

William Hill Bowl Chase

Ahoy Senor (12/1, bet365) hasn’t had his best campaign so far but he always appears to have a big race in him. His impressive record at the Aintree Festival reads 112 and he has to be considered on that evidence. When at his best he is a strong traveller and can jump well depending on his mood. That’s a good combination to have in a race like this and he could be the one to side with here.

Longshot

Goffs Nickel Coin Mares’ Bumper

Austins Hill Lass (22/1, bet365) was an impressive winner of an Irish point in January. Fergal O’Brien won this race last year with Dysart Enos and the trainer could make it two-in-a-row. The fact that she makes her first bumper start in Grade 2 company here indicates that connections rate her highly.

If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.