National hunt jockey and Freebets brand ambassador Tom Bellamy gives his thoughts on the final day of action from Aintree, including the Grand National.
We’ve got a strong favourite in the first race with Jonbon, and he should take a lot of beating here. Notlongtillmay is the second favourite, and probably deserves to be that, but you can’t really see that one troubling the Henderson runner, it’s all about Jonbon this race for me.
In the 2:25pm, I like the chances of a horse I tipped up at the Cheltenham Festival and that’s Mill Green. He seems to be a bit of a bridesmaid, has finished third on a number of occasions but all of that is rock solid form and I think at 10/1 he’s got a solid chance.
He was third in this last year, third in the Pertemps at Cheltenham for the past two years, isn’t afraid of a big field handicap, has a similar sort of mark and I just think at 10/1, this is a horse who always seems over priced and he could well win a race like this one day.
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In the 3:00pm, one I like here is the Dan Skelton mare Kateira. She has plenty to find on figures, rated much lower than some in here, she’s got a stone to find with the Snowden runner that won at the Festival, but I think that’s more to do with being unexposed and lightly raced, rather than being a worse horse.
If she had ran three or four times more this season, she’d be rated much higher, it’s early days, which is why she’s got a bit to find on figures, but that won’t stop her having a chance here. She’ll end up rated near to those in the future.
In the Liverpool Hurdle I fancy Champ, he knows he can win round this track, stays well and he hasn’t been seen for a while, they’ve held onto him and missed Cheltenham, which could help.
His form is rock solid, while many of the others come here on the back of tough races at Cheltenham.
In the 4:15pm, I think Shakem Up’Arry is very interesting going up to this kind of trip for the first time. I think he’s been crying out for this for a long time now and if he does stay, it would be no surprise to see a massive improvement in him.
Onto the big race of the day, the Grand National, and I think the class angle in the race is Delta Work. He’s got a reasonable weight, carrying 11st 4lb, I don’t know if he looked like he didn’t stay last year, he finished very tired, but he’s still the class horse in the race.
I can’t have Corach Rambler here, I don’t know why, but I’ve got some doubts in my head about him.
The other I like, if you’re feeling lucky, I think Mr Incredible has the form to win this race, but he’s a very quirky customer, so you need to trust he goes here. If he’s in the mood, if he get a nice run around, I think he’s got a very nice weight and can go well off it.
The final race on the card is the bumper and while I’ve not got too many thoughts, it would be great to see Davy Russell go out with a winner, in what could be his last ride, and that horse appears to hold a solid chance of giving him that.
One I know a bit about after riding against it is Bowenspark, I’ve finished second behind this horse in the past. He does all his best work at the end, seems to fly home in his races so a strongly run race will really suit him.
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