There are seven races on the jumps card at Aintree this Saturday, including the Class 2 2m5f Grand Sefton Handicap Chase, which takes place on the Grand National course.
Enda McElhinney provides his analysis on the big race including a main selection.
2.40 - Grand Sefton Handicap chase (Class 2, 2m5f)
The Aintree factor is always worth considering when dealing with races staged on the Grand National course. The famous old fences are not as fearsome as they were back in the day and it is telling that 23 of the last 29 Grand National winners were making their debut in the race, but course form is probably still worth upgrading.
There are 13 runners set to face the starter on Saturday afternoon, of whom Frero Banbou, Latenightpass, Gaboriot, Percussion and Richmond Lake have previous experience of the spruce fences.
Latenightpass won the Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase over this course-and-distance in April 2022, but is now aged 11 and 14 of the last 18 winners of the Sefton were aged either eight or nine.
Eight of the last 10 winners had raced at least 10 times over fences beforehand. Most of the field, near as damn it, meet that criteria but Idalko Bihoe, Outlaw Peter and Sure Touch are younger horses that have raced only four, seven and six times over fences.
In the last decade some recent match practice has proven near essential and 13 of the last 18 winners had raced within the previous four weeks.
Nine of 13 runners are returning from 112 days or more off the track.
Authorized Art is a nine-year-old who raced over hurdles at Kempton last month, but he is carded to carry 12st in this race and eight of the last ten winners carried 11st 7lb or less.
None of the aforementioned five horses with previous Grand National course experience have raced for at least 132 days.
The three horses at the foot of the handicap namely, Vintage Fizz, KING TURGEON and Galon De Vauzelle have had the benefit of a recent run.
Galon De Vauzelle won over 3m on testing ground at Limerick in September but faces a tough task under contrasting conditions from out of the handicap proper.
Vintage Fizz is a potential each-way option at rewarding odds. The seven-year-old finished fourth over 2m3.5f over fences at Wetherby last month, registering a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 135 on the good to soft ground.
He also registered the same RPR of 135 when a close second over this trip on good ground at Market Rasen in June, jumping left on occasions which would clearly be much less of an issue at left-handed Aintree.
He could go well from a mark of 127, but the slightly younger King Turgeon is preferred at shorter in the market, representing David Pipe whose Poole Master won the 2014 running.
The six-year-old overcomes any particular worries regarding his tender age by arriving with plenty of chasing experience. He is 3-14 over fences and he too features off a mark 127. He is penalised 7lb for a comfortable success off 118 over 3m2f on good to soft ground at Chepstow 11 days ago which means he will stay this shorter trip particularly well, a likeable asset when jumping the bigger fences tends to sap vital energy for the lengthy run-in.
That penalty takes him up to a mark of 125, but the minimum weight is 10st 2lb, so he is effectively 2lb wrong, but the handicapper has increased his rating to 129 for that success, so he is actually 2lb ahead of the game. His prominent racing style is another positive factor in his corner.
