Jake Aldrich’s has three selections for Friday at Aintree including one in the opening race of the day.
Top-draw racing action continues at Aintree on Friday with four more Grade 1 contests and a trio of intriguing handicaps, including the Topham over the National fences.
Our expert, Jake Aldrich, has three horse racing betting selections on Ladies’ Day
Friday’s horse racing betting tips
13:45 Aintree – Handstands 2/1
14:20 Aintree – Wade Out 7/1
16:40 Aintree – Califet En Vol /
13:45 Aintree – Handstands
Ben Pauling’s Handstands 2/1 can get punters off to a winning start at Aintree on Friday.
The progressive son of Getaway completed a hat-trick of chase wins in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown and the runner-up from that race, Jango Baie, has since won the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Handstands has been kept fresh for this race since that success and the six-year-old has already won a point-to-point and novice chase over three miles, so the trip should not be an issue, and he also handles a variety of ground.
His market rivals have more to prove. Caldwell Potter steps up in trip and grade while Dancing City will need to bounce back from a lesser effort at Cheltenham and may prefer softer ground.
14:20 Aintree – Wade Out
Wade Out 7/1 has shown progressive form in novice company this season and is an eyecatching handicap debutant for trainer Olly Murphy.
He defied a double penalty at Wetherby last time out and, on his best form, a mark of 128 could be very workable given he remains unexposed over two and a half miles
His trainer Murphy is in excellent form and connections of Wade Out may have had graded races in mind this spring for the lightly raced son of Shantou.
16:40 Aintree – Califet En Vol
Nicky Henderson has won the Grade 1 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle three times in the last ten years and has another leading contender in Califet En Vol / .
A winner of two of his three starts over hurdles, the hugely promising The New Lion, who has subsequently won Grade 1s at Newbury and Cheltenham, is the only horse to get the better of him this term.
The New Lion simply had too much speed for Califet En Voi, whose future surely lies over staying trips.
He is unraced over three miles under rules but the step up in distance on Friday should bring about further improvement.
Mister Meggit is a fascinating runner having sauntered to victory on hurdles debut at Aintree track in November but it is concerning that he has not been seen since.