Aramon Fancied to be Much Closer on Flat Aintree Track
I thought Aramon ran a creditable race at the Cheltenham Festival in what was probably a very good Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. However, he had both the ground and track against him that day, and with the track in his favour at Aintree, and slightly better ground, I am expecting to see him go a lot closer.
Had the ground dried out a little more than I would have fancied him even more, but he is still worth an interest in the second race on day two. He is one of a few runners that Willie Mullins is sending over to Aintree this week, and to send across a horse who on the face of it was a little disappointing when finishing 6th at Cheltenham, is eye catching in my opinion.
This race is nowhere near as strong as the Supreme, with the 4th, 5th and 6th all coming back to run again, and being joined by horses who swerved Cheltenham. Of those, Precious Cargo and Southfield Stone have some decent form in the book, but nothing top class and certainly nothing to be scared of.
When you combine together the fact that this is not as good a race as the Supreme was at Cheltenham, and the fact that the ground and track are going to bring Aramon into it more, he looks to have a very solid chance and seems a little overpriced at around the 5 or 6/1 mark.
I don’t think any of the horses here will go onto be top class next season, while the horse that won at Cheltenham, and possibly one of those behind him could turn out to be Champion Hurdle contenders next year.
This race won’t take a huge amount of winning, and there are plenty of reasons to think Aramon can go close to taking it.