Aintree on Sunday 25 October, with a racecard video for every race, and we are very excited. In the Old Roan Chase, one of the horses we really want to follow this season takes their chance. We will get to that. First, some of the other races, starting with the opener.
12:40 Aintree: Brookside La in the conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle
Little Lights Loop Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle, Class 3, 3m149y, 13 runners.
We are big fans of Brookside La, who is our Top Rated, and we think this horse is much, much better than a current mark of 119.
Watching him at the beginning of last season, we thought Dan Skelton had plans for him down the line. Handicaps, yes, but not off this sort of mark. We thought they had a really smart novice hurdler who was going to do well in good handicaps. Instead, three runs in novice hurdles got him into a handicap off 99, which we thought was crazy, and he won it, at Wetherby on Boxing Day.
He then probably did not run up to scratch, finishing 3rd twice at Haydock: over 2m5f in January, then stepped up to 3 miles in April, where he did not win.
Then he bounced back to form at Worcester this month, on his seasonal return over 2m4f, winning by 9 lengths off 110 under top weight of 12st.
We are sure that when they brought him back over 2m4f, they were thinking: he will run a nice race, we do not know where he is in his form, but hopefully he runs well. We do not think they were confident he could win. He did, and we think that probably surprised them. Wow, we have a horse here who is ahead of his mark, and he won over a trip that was too short.
He goes back up to 3 miles now, which we think he wants, and we think he wants a fence in time. This may just be his final run over hurdles. Or do they have a 3-mile handicap hurdler on their hands? He went up 9lb for Worcester, to 119, and we still think he is well handicapped.
Harry Atkins takes the ride, claiming 3lb, and he had a good winner on Friday on Continuance at Cheltenham. In conditional jockeys' races, Harry Atkins is very good. We know that, and it is a real positive. We think Brookside La runs a really, really nice race.