ITV Racing Tips for Day 1 of the 2022 Aintree Grand National Festival

Day 1 of the Aintree Grand National Festival features five live races on ITV Racing and Henry has picked his betting tip for each race along with a preview.

The Grand National is the big event on Saturday but before that, there are two days of top class action where some horses from Cheltenham will be looking to win again, and some will want to right th wrongs from 4 weeks ago.

Henry has looked through the five live races and picked his Aintree betting tips for Thursday 7th April.

 

2:20 Aintree

The 2:20 race is our first race on ITV and it is a Grade 1 for the Juvenile hurdles. We often see the correlation form between the Triumph Hurdle and the Boodles Hurdle from Cheltenham clash here.

I like the chances of PIED PIPER (Evens) here. I expect the Triumph Hurdle form to work out really strong as it looked a really good renewal this year. Pied Piper was third that day but I think this track will suit him better. The ground won’t be an issue as he’s won on good to soft and heavy ground. The main danger is Boodles Winner Brazil but the Boodles winner has never won this race previously and I don’t think that’ll change today.

 

2:55 Aintree

The 2:55 from Aintree is another Grade 1. It’s the Betfred Bowl over 3m. It’s a field of nine and it’s easy to make a case for the majority of the field.

The one I’ve landed on is ELDORADO ALLEN (6/1) EW. He ran a solid race finishing third behind the classy Ryanair winner Allaho at Cheltenham last time out but it’s his victory at Newbury over just shy of 3m that’s the form piece I like. He beat the re-opposing Royal Pagaille that day and always looked in control. I think he’ll appreciate the step back up in trip and he has more scope for improvement over this trip than most of his rivals. The Tizzard team have a good record at this meeting and they are a stable in form over the last couple of weeks. The ground will be fine for him and I expect him to hit the frame at worst.

 

3:30 Aintree

The 3:30 is another Grade 1 for punters to enjoy. It is the Aintree Hurdle over the 2m4f distance.

I like ZANAHIYR (15/8) NB here for the Gordon Elliot team. It’s a clash between the 2nd and 3rd from the Champion Hurdle but I think the 3rd can reverse the form here. He looks sure to be more suited by the step up in trip to 2m4f and this has always looked like his ideal trip. He may got a soft lead too and it’ll take a good one to go past over 2m4f. The runner-up from the Champion Hurdle is 1-18 in this race which is a concern for the mare.

 

4:05 Aintree

The first race over the National Fences comes up at 4:05 and it’s the turn of the amateur riders. The Foxhunters Open Hunter Chase ran over 2m5f.

This has definitely been the plan for JETT (11/4) NAP since he moved to Robert Waley-Cohen. He was a Graded operator before switching to Hunter chasing with this race in mind. He had two quick runs earlier in the year to ensure he was qualified for this race. He then skipped Cheltenham to come here a fresh horse which is an obvious plus. If you watch last years Grand National he relished the National fences and led for the majority of the contest. This shorter trip over the same course has to be perfect for him against inferior opposition.

 

4:40 Aintree

The finale on ITV is the always competitive Red Rum Handicap Chase over 2m. Before Midnight heads the market at 6/1 at the time of writing which shows how wide open this years renewal appears to be.

The one I’ve landed on is SKY PIRATE (14/1) EW. If it rains heavily forget it but as long as it’s not too soft he can defy a big weight and go close here. He’s dropped to 153 now and he’s more than capable of winning off that rating given the fact he won a Grand Annual last year off 152. He was going well in it this year until turning for home but the ground was far too soft for him there so that is no concern. The Jonjo O’Neill team are in fine fettle and this race will be ran to suit given the likely strong gallop up front.

 

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