The Grand National is the blockbuster attraction on Saturday of the Aintree meeting that shares its name, but there six other races on the card to get stuck into including three Grade 1 events.
Arguably the pick of the bunch is the Liverpool Hurdle (3.35), which sees this year’s Stayers’ Hurdle 1-2-4 Sire Du Berlais, Dashel Drasher and Flooring Porter lock horns for the second time in a month. One them is our nap of the Grand National day undercard.
Aintree Saturday Best Bets
Nap: Sire Du Berlais to win 3.35 @ 5/1
NB: Kinondu Kwetu to win 4.15 @ 11/1
Longshot: Authorised Speed to win 3.00 @ 14/1
Check out the latest horse racing odds at Betzone
Hard to believe Stayers’ winner isn’t favourite for Aintree repeat
Marie’s Rock is currently favourite for the Liverpool Hurdle despite finishing 15 lengths seventh in the 2m4f Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last time out and never having raced beyond 2m 5f before.
Behind her in the betting is Sire Du Berlais, who beat Flooring Porter to win this very race last year and comes into the contest off a career-best victory in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
The reopposing Dashel Drasher, Flooring Porter and Home By The Lee all finished being Gordon Elliott’s evergreen 11-year-old at Prestbury Park, making him look good value to complete a spring Grade 1 double.
Nap: Sire Du Berlais to win 3.35 @ 5/1
Prolific chaser could be poised to resume his upward trajectory
Sam England’s Kinondo Kwetu improved hand over fist after being sent chasing last summer, rising up the handicap to the tune of 30lbs on the back of five straight wins over fences.
That run came to an abrupt halt when he was stepped up to Grade 2 company at Ascot in February. The seven-year-old finished last, 32 lengths adrift of the winner in a three-runner race.
A return to handicap company here may ultimately be more his cup of tea and the fact that he turns up for his first run since a wind operation with a first-time tongue tie in place strongly suggests his trainer felt breathing issues may have been his undoing last time out.
If those two measures have the desired effect, this horse could be ready to continue his rise up the ratings and return to winning ways.
NB: Kinondu Kwetu to win 4.15 @ 11/1
In-form Moore yard can make up for Thursday near miss in Mersey
At the time of writing the Gary Moore operation had sent out 13 winners from their last 32 runners at an impressive strike rate of 41%. That form carried onto the Aintree stage with Bo Zenith going down by the shortest of short heads in the Grade 1 juvenile hurdle on day one of the meeting.
The yard’s Authorised Speed had been considered a leading English contender for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle early on this season before seemingly having his bubble burst when finishing a 32-length fifth in the top-flight Tolworth Hurdle back in January.
However, the 2022 Champion Bumper fourth was found to have scoped dirty after that no-show and returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion with a 19-length win on his only run since.
If we put a line through his Sandown run he’d be an unbeaten hurdler with a very progressive profile and there’s no way he’d be going off at double-figure odds for this affair.
Longshot: Authorised Speed to win 3.00 @ 14/1
