The Aintree Grand National Meeting gets underway on Thursday the 12th April with the Betfred Bowl Chase worth £150,000.00 being the centre piece. The race is run over 3 miles 1 furlong . Riverside Theatre is favourite for this but he has had only four weeks to get over his exertions from the Cheltenham Festival. Nacarat (pictured) comes here a fresh horse. He won the race last year and looks the each way value. Hunt Ball is an interesting runner having made rapid improvement this season and he will be taking on the big boys for the first time. What A Friend fell early on in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and might give his part owner, Sir Alex Ferguson, something to shout about here. It looks as though it will be an interesting tactical race.
The first race on the card is the BGC Partners Liverpool Hurdle worth £100,000.00 run over 3 miles where all eyes will be on Big Bucks. He will be a very warm favourite to continue his winning run. His jockey, Ruby Walsh, partners Al Ferof in the Betfred Manifesto Novices’ Chase later in the afternoon and he should go home with at least two winners.