Day 1 of the Grand National Festival at Aintree, Liverpool gets underway from 1.45pm this afternoon, with Waterford involvement in five of the seven races on offer.
We saw plenty of Waterford success at the recent Cheltenham Festival, as Henry de Bromhead captured three victories, whilst John Kiely and John Gleeson combined for one of the great sporting stories in the Champion Bumper.
The three day festival at Aintree begins with the Aintree Bowl on Thursday, with races such as the Marsh Chase, the Mildmay, The Topham and the Liverpool Hurdle all part of a fantastic offering before the world’s most famous steeplechase on Saturday evening - the Aintree Grand National.
Here’s everything you need to know on Day 1:
Manifesto Novices’ Chase (1.45): The two and a half mile opener is a Grade 1, and pits the winner of the Turners’ Novice Chase at Cheltenham, the Paul Nicholls-trained Stage Star, against Joseph O’Brien’s Banbridge, who skipped that engagement with this in mind.
Banbridge has been an impressive chaser in his debut campaign over fences, winning an Arkle Trial at Cheltenham as well as finishing second in the Irish Arkle at the Dublin Racing Festival, having won the Martin Pipe last year.
There is Waterford representation in the Aintree opener that comes in the form of Dungarvan jockey Sean Houlihan. He rides Straw Fan Jack, the stable star of Sheila Lewis, who was fourth in the Arkle at Cheltenham last month.
"He’s been really sharp, so fingers crossed"
Trainer Sheila Lewis provides an update on Straw Fan Jack ahead of his run in the Manifesto Novices' Chase at @AintreeRaces on Thursday... pic.twitter.com/bBBd8Di6b8
— Sky Sports Racing (@SkySportsRacing) April 11, 2023
The eight year old is deemed a 25/1 shot in the five strong field, which also contains Saint Roi and Visionarian.
Anniversary Juvenile Hurdle (2.20): The Grade One action keeps coming in Liverpool, with the second race seeing some of the season’s star four year olds going to battle over an extended two miles.
Zenta will likely go off market favourite for the combination of Willie Mullins, Mark Walsh and JP McManus - all of whom had a superb Easter Festival at Fairyhouse at the weekend.
Gary Moore’s Bo Zenith is also prominent in the market, as is Joseph O’Brien’s Nusret and the Milton Harris-trained Scriptwriter.
The Houlihan family again provide the local representation, as Grade 1 winning rider Niall rides for Moore aboard Perseus Way - who wasn’t disgraced despite a recent tenth place finish in the Fred Winter at Cheltenham, as well as going close in the Adonis.
🟢🥇 Nusret reels in Perseus Way to take the (Grade 2) Adonis Juvenile Hurdle at @kemptonparkrace, with @Dazjacob10 on board!pic.twitter.com/trgrT6LK6X
— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) February 25, 2023
Aintree Bowl (2.55): The Aintree Bowl could almost be described as the Liverpudlian equivalent of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and a former Gold Cup winner flies the Déise flag in the form of the Henry de Bromhead-trained A Plus Tard.
It has been a luckless season for the Cheveley Park-owned star, but if anywhere near his peak, then he is certainly the one to beat. His rider, Rachael Blackmore is bullish about his chances, despite having to pull him up at Haydock and last time out when defending his Gold Cup crown.
“He was running a big race in the Gold Cup”, said Blackmore.
“I was probably a little further back than ideal, the way the race was developing, but I had just begun to move up. I had just begun to track Paul Townend on Galopin Des Champs. I had my eyes set on him, and then Ahoy Senor fell in front of me and brought down Sounds Russian. A Plus Tard actually had to jump them both. It's amazing what horses can do. He jumped the first one, then as soon as he landed, he saw the other one, and he jumped him as well.”
How fine are the margins in top-class jump racing? Ahoy Senor crumples six out, bringing down Sounds Russian. The old king A Plus Tard gets badly hampered twice and the new one Galopin is about two feet from a similar fate or worse. pic.twitter.com/IyEOwgQOTx
— Graham Cunningham (@gcunning12) March 17, 2023
“Obviously, that took me out of the race. It was just one of those things. I continued for a little while, just to see if I could creep back into it, but that's such a crucial point in the race, it was just starting to get going, and we couldn't recover from that. I was very happy with how he felt at the time, I was very happy with how he was travelling. I thought that he was going to run a big race. Who knows how the race would have panned out, or how he would have come up the hill, but I was very happy with him at the time.”
Blackmore says what she has seen at Knockeen has given her confidence that the stable star is potentially back to his best.
“On the plus side, he didn't have a hard race. He has been in great order since. I gave him a pop last week, and he seems to be in great form. It's a really good race obviously, it's going to be like a mini Gold Cup. There's no Galopin Des Champs, but we have Shishkin instead. I'm very happy with A Plus Tard and I'm very much looking forward to this.”
Shishkin tackles three miles for the first time for Nicky Henderson as he bids to avenge defeat to De Bromhead’s Envoi Allen in the Ryanair Chase, while Gordon Elliott’s Conflated seeks to build on a very promising Gold Cup run, a race in which Ahoy Senor was travelling with poise before departure. This year’s Aintree Bowl could well be one of the races of the season.
Aintree Hurdle (3.30): Constitution Hill turns up and beats everyone by half the field. I can’t predict the future, but that’s probably what will happen in the Aintree Hurdle based off previous evidence - as the most exciting and popular horse in training takes on six rivals including stablemate Epatante and the likes of Zanahiyr and Sharjah.
Not long until we see the monster back in action #ConstitutionHill 😍pic.twitter.com/koLkxyrNnd
— GG (@ggcouk) April 11, 2023
This is a horse unlikely to be beaten by anything other than himself - just sit back and enjoy another piece of brilliance from the sport’s newest superstar.
Hunters Chase (4.05): Fermanagh handler David Christie has been robbed of victory at this level on numerous occasions, and his hopeful Winged Leader will take on Cheltenham runner-up It’s On The Line among 26 others in a packed field here.
Winged Leader’s only defeat in his latest nine starts came when collared at Cheltenham last March, and he has been mopping up Irish points this season, with this always being the aim.
FESTIVAL MEMORIES! 🐴
Billaway landed one of the best finishes of the festival last year to snatch the Foxhunters Chase at the last second! 😳
The heartbreak for Winged Leader backers 💔
🎥 @RacingTVpic.twitter.com/bZxswMyd5d
— The Winners Enclosure (@TWEnclosure) March 9, 2023
This could be a rip roaring renewal in which people punt at their peril.
Red Rum Handicap Chase (4.40): Local representation returns in the penultimate race on day one as Henry de Bromhead bloods two hopefuls in the Red Rum.
Dancing On My Own ran excellently here last season when finishing second, and is rated just 3lb higher on this occasion. He seems to like it at Aintree and goes with a live chance, while Defan will also hope to threaten having won two of his five handicap starts.
The Last Day wins the Red Rum! 🏆
Showed a great bit of pace when approaching the final fence!#GrandNational | #VMTVRacing pic.twitter.com/5EnUEtP8Iw
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) April 7, 2022
The De Bromhead duo face some stern opposition, with the likes of Third Time Lucki, Douglas Talking and Grey Diamond all in the mix.
Nickel Coin Mares’ Bumper (5.20): The closing Grade 2 Mares’ Bumper will see two live Waterford chances, including a recent winner for John Queally.
Gaillimh A Run has improved with each of her four runs and got off the mark at Thurles in December, before she followed up at Naas last month with John Gleeson on board.
Queally is selective with his British raiders and won this in 2018; the tongue-tie worn last time is left off, and Jamie Codd rides this time out, those are all very positive signs.
Finish with a flourish!🏇
Gaillimh A Run stays on strongly to put five lengths between herself and her nearest rival in the final furlong of the concluding Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares INH Flat Race @thurlesraces. pic.twitter.com/NumMY92NBL
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) December 18, 2022
De Bromhead and Blackmore also go with an unbeaten hopeful, that being July Flower.
She is a really nice filly, she has come from France where she won two bumpers, the second of them a Grade 1 race at Fontainebleau.
“I was lucky enough to win this race two years ago on Me Too Please, and it is a race that has been won by some good mares in the past, it was won by Ashroe Diamond last year”, said Blackmore.
“I hope that July Flower can go well. She has been working well at home and I'm excited to see how she'll do now.”
