Fine From
Git Maker AY – 3.35
can prove a real party pooper for Jamie Snowden in the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr.
This meeting has been dominated by talk of the trainers’ championship as it builds to a crescendo, with Willie Mullins, Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton all throwing plenty of runners at the fixture.
Victory for either in the #200,000 four-mile test would make them difficult to catch, but Git Maker has so much going for him it is hard to look elsewhere.
You usually want a lightly-raced chaser still ahead of the handicapper for races of this nature, as I Am Maximus proved last week at Aintree.
While he had already won an Irish National he did so as a novice and now he is thought of as a Gold Cup contender, showing how much he had in hand.
Git Maker is highly unlikely to reach that level, but he still has plenty more to offer based on his tremendous Cheltenham Festival effort.
He finished second in the Kim Muir to Gavin Cromwell’s Inothewayurthinkin and while he was beaten eight lengths by the top-weight, there was a further 18 back to the third and Git Maker only went up 1lb.
Thrown in the fact the winner went to Aintree and won the Mildmay Novices’ Chase by four lengths, that form looks red-hot.
Nicholls can get on the scoresheet with
Sans Bruit AY – 1.15
, who was a sight to behold under Bryony Frost at Aintree and is out again quickly in the Scotty Brand Handicap Chase.
Not surprisingly the assessor has had a go at reeling him and he is 10lb higher off just a nine-day rest, but he won so easily that if Frost is able to get him in anything like the same sort of rhythm, he will be difficult to peg back.
The class act in the CPMS Novices’ Champion Handicap Chase is undoubtedly the Mullins-trained Sharjah, a multiple Grade One winner over hurdles. However, he is 11 now and not as good over fences so a chance is taking on
Inch House AY – 1.50
bouncing back to form.
Skelton can strike back with
L’Eau Du Sud AY – 2.25
in the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle.
He has looked like winning the two biggest two-mile handicap hurdles of the season at Newbury and Cheltenham, only to be caught close home. This track is less of a test and he can bag a big pot before potentially going chasing next autumn.
Perhaps Mullins’ best chance of a winner is in the closing Golf Inn Prestwick Open National Hunt Flat Race with
C’est Ta Chance AY – 5.20
who had a very tall home reputation at the beginning of the season.
From one end of the spectrum to the other with Classic trials at Newbury.
Knowing how forward the three-year-olds are in advance of seeing them is a tricky business but
Regal Jubilee NB – 2.05
impressed in winning a Listed race last term and her breeding, by Frankel out of Regal Realm, suggests she should be even
better this year.
That makes her the pick in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes, while in the Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes Kevin Ryan’s
Room Service NB – 2.40
can cause a shock.
He was the only horse to beat Clive Cox’s Dragon Leader last season and he did so by over two lengths, giving him weight, with Aidan O’Brien’s Johannes Brahms, the Gimcrack runner-up, back in third.
Arrest NB – 1.30
is out early but the St Leger runner-up will love the ground in the Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes.
The best bet at Bangor is Donald McCain’s
Camarrate BN – 3.25
who steps out of juvenile company to run in the Camden Stout Novices’ Handicap Hurdle.
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