Elliott targets Grand National with five runners after first-day Aintree double

Gordon Elliott opened the Grand National meeting with a 15-1 Grade One double on Thursday and now plans a five-strong challenge for the Grand National on Saturday, when a fourth success in the world’s most famous steeplechase would give the trainer a share of the all-time record.

The highlight of Elliott’s afternoon was Brighterdaysahead’s two-and-a-quarter-length defeat of Dan Skelton’s The New Lion in the Aintree Hurdle, a result which confirmed the form of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, when the pair finished second and third. It was also a second course-and-distance success for Brighterdaysahead, who has yet to register a win at Cheltenham in three attempts.

That record tempers enthusiasm somewhat for the ante-post prices available for the festival in March 2027, but Brighterdaysahead will still be an exciting recruit to the novice chasing ranks if, as expected, she graduates to the bigger obstacles next season.

“She’s the apple of all our eyes,” Elliott said afterwards. “I think two and a half miles probably is her trip [and] I’d say we’re probably going to go chasing [next season].

“She was supposed to go chasing this year, she was entered up but pulled a muscle, which is why she didn’t run. I don’t think there’s anything in the Cheltenham thing, she hasn’t won there but she ran a great race in the Champion this year and hopefully the best is yet to come.”

Skelton, meanwhile, was left to ruminate on a sketchy jump at the final flight by The New Lion, which left him with too much to do to reel in Brighterdaysahead on the flat.

“I’m not crestfallen, just a bit frustrated we didn’t get a jump at the last,” Skelton said. “If we’d got a jump and couldn’t get by the winner then fair play. I wish we’d jumped it a bit better and had our fair chance, but that’s sport and it didn’t quite work for us.

“I feel like we’ve got unfinished business. Next year, everyone is a year older, except his year older isn’t too old. Maybe there are lessons to be learned and we go again next year.”

Willie Mullins took all four of the Grade One events on the opening day last year on his way to a successful defence of the National Hunt trainer’s title, but drew a blank this time as Koktail Divin (Henry de Bromhead) and Nicky Henderson’s Jango Baie took the Manifesto Novice Chase and the Racing Welfare Bowl respectively after Mullins’s Selma De Vary was touched off by the Elliott-trained Mange Tout in the opening juvenile hurdle.

Koktail Divin ran out a comfortable winner after the mid-race departure of the 1-2 favourite, Nicky Henderson’s Lulamba, who unseated Nico de Boinville at the 10th fence, completing an unfortunate double of defeats when favourite for Grade One events at both Cheltenham and Aintree.

Racegoers celebrate a winner at Aintree on Thursday. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

“He’s so fresh, but we’ve got nowhere to go,” Henderson said afterwards. “I didn’t put him in anything at Punchestown [at the end of April] because there isn’t a race for him. He’s as fresh as anything and he actually won the race, he sprinted up the run-in. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a jockey on his back.”

Henderson and De Boinville’s luck turned in the Bowl, however, as Jango Baie, the runner-up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, was left clear when Mullins’s Impaire Et Passe suffered a heavy fall at the second-last. Both the horse and his rider, Paul Townend, who will be aboard I Am Maximus, the likely favourite, in the National, emerged unscathed.

“It was tough for Nico, when you have what happened to Lulamba and then have to come straight into another Grade One,” Henderson said. “To pick yourself up, that’s testament to a Grade One jockey.

“The King George [in which Jango Baie was fourth this season] and the Gold Cup are the two obvious races for him again next season, they have to be.”

The final field for the Grand National will include two horses from the list of reserves after both Nick Rockett, last year’s winner for the father-son combination of Willie and Patrick Mullins, and Spillane’s Tower, a runner in the Bowl, were taken out on Thursday.

Elliott’s Pied Piper, the first reserve, was initially promoted to the final field in place of Nick Rockett, but ruled out soon afterwards by his trainer. As a result, both Imperial Saint, trained by Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, and Amirite, from the Henry de Bromhead yard, will get places in Saturday’s 34-runner field.

Grand National meeting day two preview

The Topham Handicap Chase over the Grand National fences is the big betting race on the second day at Aintree and many punters will view Dan Skelton’s Madara as something of a gift at around 9-2 after his emphatic success in the Plate Handicap Chase at Cheltenham last month.

Madara travelled and jumped like a horse who is well ahead of his mark at the festival before powering nearly eight lengths clear at the line, and that is undoubtedly the best form on offer on Friday.

Horses that made the frame at the festival have a poor record in the Topham, however, with two wins from 36 since 2003, and the last four festival winners to line up for the race have all failed even to reach the first 10.

That stat suggests Madara is very poor value at his likely odds, and an each-way bet on a runner that skipped the festival may well be the way to go. Gentlemen De Mee, last year’s winner, is one possibility, but there is a case to be made too for Henry de Bromhead’s Coming Up Easy (4.05) at around 14-1.

The eight-year-old’s jumping went awry when he was pulled up in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham in November but he had been progressing well to that point, including a useful performance to win a Listed handicap chase last summer when returning from a four-month break.

JJ Burke leads Ryan’s Rocket to victory in the Red Rum Handicap Steeple Chase at Aintree. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/Reuters

Aintree 1.45 An opening mark of 130 is potentially very generous for Dan Skelton’s Emid’io Pepe given his trainer’s record in handicaps and he can add another £42k to what is already a record haul for the yard.

Aintree 2.20 Gold Dancer lugged top weight into a strong second place in the novice handicap chase at the festival and a similar level of form could be enough to register a first Grade One win.

Aintree 2.55 While Sober Glory was no match for Old Park Star in the Supreme at Cheltenham, that much-improved performance puts him well clear of this field on ratings.

Aintree 3.30 The Ryanair Chase winner, Heart Wood, produced a significant career-best to beat the ultra-consistent Jonbon at the festival and is a solid bet to follow up in a less competitive field here.

Aintree 4.40 Johnny’s Jury found significant improvement for the step up to three miles in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham and has more scope for progress than most of his rivals.