April is that the month when the turf Flat season starts to hit full stride and for several punters the fixture that lights the blue touch paper is the Craven meeting at Newmarket in the center of the month.
Before sampling the breezy delights of Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course, but, there’s the small matter of the ever-expanding Grand National meeting at Aintree that begins with a cracking card on April 6.
In recent years Aintree’s prestigious three-day meeting has begun to rival Cheltenham’s somewhat bloated four-day fixture for thrills and spills, and there’s very little doubt {that the} highlight of the Merseyside racing calendar offers 3 days of high-category racing culminating in the running of the globe’s most famous race on the final day.
As racecourses go, Cheltenham and Aintree are chalk and cheese: where the previous is twisty and undulating with a punishing uphill end, the latter is long and flat and primarily sharp in nature, and given the two contrasting course configurations it takes a smart horse to win a race at the Cheltenham Pageant and then do the identical at Aintree.
Specifically a year ago at Aintree that’s specifically what Fota Island managed to try to to when adding the John Smith’s Red Rum Handicap Chase to the Grand Annual Chase that he had won in such very good fashion at Cheltenham simply over 2 and a 0.5 week’s previously.
Not surprisingly there can be plenty of horses from this year’s Grand Annual that can be seeking compensation on Merseyside as well as Andreas, an early casualty within the Grand Annual when a well backed favourite and Green Tango, who made robust late headway in the same race despite seeming unsuited to Cheltenham. Aintree’s flatter track ought to suit.
Within the Betfair Bowl Chase on the gap day, Cheltenham additionally-rans boast a healthy record and Gold Cup failures Monkerhostin and Beef Or Salmon may preferably be among those bidding to banish the blues of a poor Competition run, while the versatile Impek, a runner-up in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Competition, could compete and is already a winner over slightly shorter on this sharp course earlier in the season.
In the big juvenile event, the John Smith’s Anniversary four-Y-O Hurdle, several key players from Cheltenham’s Triumph Hurdle seem probably to figure including Honest Along, the Triumph Hurdle runner-up, who {has already} won a race over course and distance, along with Afsoun, who was beneath the weather within the Triumph, and rates a robust fancy.
On the second day - April seven - the big race is the John Smith’s Melling Chase, and since its inception in 1989 this race’s roll-decision of winners has featured the high chasers in training, who have successfully stepped up in trip when excelling at their specialist distance of 2 miles.
Remittance Man, Viking Flagship, Katabatic, Martha’s Son and Moscow Flyer are just a few past two-mile champions who have added this valuable prize after being topped 2-mile champions with a victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Newmill, this year’s shock Queen Mother hero, won’t be running at Aintree but Kauto Star and Dempsey could line-up for this prize. The former, who was a heat favourite for the Queen Mother, fell early in that race bringing down the well supported Dempsey. If they have recovered from their tumbles, they should go shut, while Irish raider and course winner Fota Island can be a probably contender too.
The distinctive Grand National fences return into play for the John Smith’s and Spar Topham Chase on the second day, and sound-jumping and well-seasoned campaigners do well in this hurly-burly contest, whereas in the John Smith’s Mildmay Chase it pays to appear for a fresh horse that hasn’t endured the rigours of running in Cheltenham’s Royal & SunAlliance Chase, a race that tends to spoil their possibilities at Aintree.
Grand National day features the big race itself that stands alone as the major betting race of the year. The 2006 contest is dominated by Clan Royal, a runner-up in 2004 and last year’s simple winner, Hedgehunter. Since the course was modernised in the early nineties and the fences created easier and also the landing sides raised, the fashionable and better horses have come back to fore and dominated the event. Indeed, the National now has the design of just another long-distance steeplechase but one with lots of history attached.
All eyes will be upon the fillies in the Shadwell Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes on the second day of Newmarket’s Craven meeting on April nineteen, but sadly lately this race has provided few serious pointers towards the 1,000 Guineas, while additional Classic clues might be on supply in the Craven Stakes for colts on April twenty, the meeting’s final day. In 2004 the Barry Hills-trained Haafhd became the first colt since Tirol in 1990 to complete the Craven-2,000 Guineas double.
The hunt for Classic pointers switches to Newbury on April 22 when the Lane End Greenham Stakes takes place over 7f. In recent seasons Turtle Island, Celtic Swing and Victory Note have all landed Classics when scoring here and backers ought to pay this race plenty of respect in the colts’ Classic reckoning.
The Spring Cup Handicap at Newbury on April 22 is another race worth a second glance. Horses that have run well in the William Hill Lincoln throughout the previous month have an glorious record here, and any that come back from Redcar following a distinguished showing in the primary massive Flat handicap can surely warrant close consideration.
At Ayr on the same day there’s the Scottish Grand National to whet the appetite. One thing’s for positive and that’s any horse which has run in the Aintree Grand National should be avoided as such runners have an appalling record within the Scottish equivalent.
In 2004 Northern-trained Ryalux recorded a well-liked success and if the bottom turns soft at the West of Scotland track plenty of parents will be rooting for one more northern runner in Ossmoses, a strapping gray and stout stayer who all but landed the Midlands National over a similar marathon visit Uttoxeter last month.
Twelve months ago trainer Paul Nicholls failed by a whisker to win this race with Cornish Rebel and the identical trainer’s lightly-raced Ladalko has been kept fresh for this valuable prize. The Nicholls yard may additionally run Desert Quest, the County Hurdle winner, in the Scottish Champion Hurdle while Monet’s Garden, a runner-up within the Arkle Trophy Chase, bids to land a three-mile novices’ event at Ayr.
The curtain comes down on April’s busy and varied month with the mixed jumps and Flat card at Sandown on April 29. The Betfred Gold Cup is the jump season’s final massive handicap and fancied runners from the Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson stables ought to be noted. The latter nearly landed this prize plus a valuable bonus a year ago with Juveigneur and he might well become a serious candidate again.
Paul Nicholls should additionally be the trainer to watch in the Betfred Celebration Chase, with either Kauto Star or Andreas, two of the stable’s crack team of 2-mile chasers, doubtless to land the honours. On the Flat the Betfred.com Mile Stakes is that the highlight, and horses that ran well in Newmarket’s Earl of Sefton Stakes earlier within the month hold a smart record during this Group 2 contest.
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