Aintree tips: Jamie Lynch's five handicap hotshots ahead of the Grand National Festival!
Grey Diamond looks to have an excellent chance on Thursday for the Sam Thomas team, who look to have found a bit of form in recent days; Parramount is another intriguing runner for the Jonjo O'Neill team
Thursday 13 April 2023 11:59, UK
Sky Sports Racing's senior analyst Jamie Lynch returns with five handicap selections worth noting ahead of the three-day Grand National Festival at Aintree.
GREY DIAMOND
Close Brothers Red Rum Handicap Chase (4.40, Thursday)
Sam Thomas has had 16 winners this campaign, six of which have come in the last month since March 19, and his last three runners have all finished second: in short, the stable is going better now than at any point this season.
Grey Diamond was a beneficiary when he returned from another break to win with ease at Haydock, for which a 7lb rise needn't stop him given he looks in the form of his life, plus he's well equipped for a race like this.
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Indeed, he ran very well in it - up to a point - in 2021, when a fading fifth, after paying the price for chasing Editeur Du Gite. Haydock was just his third race of the season, so he's fresh, and his cruising speed (whatever the ground) will again count for plenty in this environment.
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CAPTAIN CONBY
William Hill Handicap Hurdle (2.20, Friday)
Six are coming on from the Coral Cup spearheaded by Camprond, who was mugged by Langer Dan having looked all over the winner at Cheltenham.
He'll be suited by the fact this race (over a shorter trip on a sharper track) will take about 20 seconds less in its completion, but so too will Captain Conby, who traded 11/10 in-running before shrinking into sixth.
Keith Donoghue, on him for the first time in the Coral Cup, will have learnt a lot about him that day to put into practice here at Aintree, where he's liable to be later on the scene, and he was in the process of running well at the track (in the mix for third) when falling at the second-last in the Grade 1 Mersey.
GESSKILLE
Randox Supports Race Against Dementia Topham Handicap Chase (4.05, Friday)
The more unique the track the more meaningful the old maxim of 'horses for courses,' and therefore Aintree is top of the list for generating specialists because the oval, and obstacles, are so uncommon.
Step forward Gesskille, who's had two goes around Aintree and covered himself in glory both times, finishing second in the Grand Sefton and then the Becher, and from a long way back on each occasion when the winners (Al Dancer and Ashtown Lad, respectively) were far handier.
Performances like those, with the way he jumped, meant the Topham became the automatic spring target, and he's been freshened up for it by the training team of Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero, who had their first (but I doubt their last) Cheltenham Festival winner last month.
Gesskille is bound to be there or thereabouts.
PARRAMOUNT
Abersoch Land And Sea Handicap Hurdle (5.15, Friday)
One of the bigger stories surrounding the 2022 National was Snow Leopardess, who went off just 10/1 but wasn't herself on the spring ground.
Fast forward 12 months and her half-brother Parramount arrives at Aintree with great momentum to set the family record straight, at least to a small extent, in the handicap hurdle for amateur and conditional riders.
He shares with Snow Leopardess the same eager, exuberant style, propelling him to progress in leaps and bounds this season, successful three times - the latest by 13 lengths from Swaffham Bulbeck, who himself won easily on his next start.
He has unsurprisingly gone up 10lb for that, but 7lb is taken off by young rider Bradley Roberts, who got on well with Parramount the once they teamed up before, cruising clear at Doncaster. He's heading to Aintree in the fast land of improvement.
AU FLEURON
Village Hotels Handicap Hurdle (2.25, Saturday)
It's all about a potential trip transformation for Au Fleuron, who has been crying out for three miles and finally gets the chance to flex his stamina muscles at Aintree.
He has run in the last two renewals of the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham and shaped strikingly similarly both times, finishing seventh and eighth, doing his best work when the races were all but over.
He's fresh for the time of year (Cheltenham was just his third race of the season), and he could be a different proposition at this trip - maybe what he's wanted all along.
