The curtain raiser of the 2025 Aintree Festival is the EBC Group Novices' Chase (13:45),and Jango Baie (5/2) for the Nicky Henderson and Nico de Boinville combination is the current market leader. Jango Baie claimed victory with a last-gasp victory at the Cheltenham Festival in the Grade 1 Arkle Chase run over 2 miles. He steps up to 2m 4f for this Aintree contest which is sure to suit on his favoured good ground. The Irish pair of Croke Park (3/1) and Impaire Et Passe (10/3) both skipped Cheltenham so arrive fresh and ready to pose significant threats. Croke Park failed to fire at Aintree last year when he was pulled up in the Sefton Novices' Hurdle; in contrast, Impaire Et Passe landed the Aintree Hurdle and still looks open to plenty of improvement over the larger obstacles.
The Aintree Bowl Chase (14:55) will be run over 3 miles and there’ll be no hiding place with an abundance of front runners in the field. Spillane's Tower (5/2) failed to fire in the King George when he was sent off favourite but couldn't find any jumping rhythm. Prior to that he'd split Fact To File and Galopin Des Champs in the John Durkan Chase. That form reads very well in the context of this race. Grey Dawning (9/4) would probably prefer the ground to be a bit softer, but he proved his wellbeing at Kelso when he comfortably dispatched leading Grand National hope, Iroko. Ahoy Senor (9/2) has recorded two wins at Aintree and should have a fighting chance if he's fully recovered from the heavy fall he took in the Cheltenham Gold Cup only 3 weeks ago.
This year's Aintree Hurdle (15:30) provides the highly anticipated rematch between Constitution Hill (4/6) and Lossiemouth (13/8). Constitution Hill's unblemished record went up in flames after he took a crashing fall at Cheltenham in the Champion Hurdle. He steps up in trip here to 2m 4f, his second time racing at this distance, but this should allow him more time to find a jumping rhythm. He's well clear of the field on Official Ratings but the aura of invincibility has gone. Lossiemouth swerved the Champion Hurdle and instead had a nice confidence booster as she sauntered to victory in the Mares' Hurdle. The vibes from the Willie Mullins camp were that something was amiss when she couldn't land a glove on Constitution Hill over 2 miles in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. With the mare now in better form, the longer trip could close the gap significantly. Game on.