Jake Price's Betting Tips for Day 1 Aintree Festival

Tip 1: MANGE TOUT - 1pt Win

Best odds of 11/2 available at William Hill while publishing.

As much as I would have loved to have seen how MANGE TOUT would have fared in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the fact that connections decided to specifically leave her off the track and target this Aintree Grade 1 instead has to be a massive positive for her claims.

What we did see in the Triumph was that the current crop of Juveniles appears to be a pretty average one, with 50/1 Apolon De Charnie able to win the race on his debut for Willie Mullins. Selma De Vary, Maestro Conti and Minella Study all filled the extended places, but they equally had a pretty tough race and were still unable to land the spoils. I would certainly concede that the flatter track at Aintree will suit Selma De Vary much better, but I think the same also applies to our selection.

I have very little doubt that Narciso Has would have been the best Juvenile in the crop of 2026 should he not have suffered an unfortunate injury, and as such MANGE TOUT has some of the closest form linking in with him. Back in November in a Grade 3 at Fairyhouse she was only receiving 3lbs when beating him by 2.75 lengths, and last time at the Dublin Racing Festival she tried to take him on again after he had clearly progressed both in terms of fitness and ability.

Selma De Vary was very much ridden to pick up the pieces that day and in the end she went on to finish 1.5 lengths ahead of our half-sister to Impaire Et Passe, but in a race where they now have the same objective and the fact that Gordon Elliott’s Filly comes here much fresher, I think there is every reason to believe that form can be overturned. Connections clearly feel that Aintree is a track which will suit our selection much better too, as Cheltenham was a clear option.

Tip 2: KOKTAIL DIVIN - 1pt Win

Best odds of 3/1 available at PricedUp while publishing.

It may prove foolish to take on Lulamba here, but he does have a fair number of questions to answer for an odds-on favourite. Whilst most observers will say that he wants a 2m4f trip like this he is yet to try it, he faces ground quicker than when he was a non-runner twelve months ago, his allowances as a 5yo have now disappeared, and he comes into Aintree off the back of two hard races at both Newbury and Cheltenham. Clearly his official rating of 162 entitles him to be the price he is, but I personally would not want to be taking the 8/13 available at the time of writing.

Instead, I would rather take a chance on KOKTAIL DIVIN, for whom it was a travesty in my eyes that he did not take his chance in the Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival over this sort of Intermediate trip. Connections were clearly worried about the participation of The Big Westerner who duly ended up missing out on her Brown Advisory entry due to the ground, so this lad was parachuted in as a replacement – but I gave him no chance of staying that extended 3m1f trip.

The race transpired in that exact way too as he absolutely tanked down the hill on the bridle, but turning for home he had little left in the tank to give, and the hill at Cheltenham saw him weaken into sixth place. He certainly did not disgrace himself with that effort as he clearly just did not see out the distance, but returning to this 2m4f trip which saw him absolutely bolt up by 21 lengths over Christmas at Leopardstown can only be a huge positive.

Henry de Bromhead and Darragh O’Keeffe are firm believers that this lad is a Grade 1 horse, and whilst the Manifesto is only 29 days after his Cheltenham exploits, that was his first start in 73 days so I am not as concerned about him backing up here as Spring targets have been on the agenda for some time.

Tip 3 – THE NEW LION 1.5pts Win

Best odds of 2/1 available at William Hill while publishing.

I have been against THE NEW LION all campaign long due to the fact that I do not think he is a proper two-miler, but now he steps back up to intermediate distances which saw him be so effective as a Novice Hurdler last season, his chances have to be greatly enhanced.

His effortless victory in the Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle over 2m4f at Newbury and his gutsy win in the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Hurdle over 2m5f at Cheltenham mark him down as a proper horse over this trip, but in fairness to connections they did give a Champion Hurdle campaign a real go this season, which has to be admired.

His fall in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle will forever be debated as to whether he would have gone on to win the race, but upon his return in the Grade 2 International Hurdle at Cheltenham on Trials Day we did not learn anything in his cosy victory over Nemean Lion. It was a day where the Skeltons were very much minding their Cheltenham Festival chances with a view to the Spring however, so it was more of a confidence booster which did not take much out of him.

In the Champion Hurdle itself he was given a ‘safe’ ride by Harry Skelton who had him racing wide throughout, and turning for home being four off the rail was probably not the right place to be. Nothing was a match for Lossiemouth that day, but the four in behind all reoppose here. With the way that THE NEW LION stayed on at the finish his half-length deficit with Brighterdaysahead can surely be reversed over a trip that he will be much more comfortable, and that Mare certainly had superior track position in March too.

Tip 4:  HIGHLANDS LEGACY – 1pt EW (4 Places)

Best odds of 7/1 available at bet365 at the time of publishing.

My strongest fancy on Day 1 of the Aintree Festival comes in the Red Rum, which has cut up into a very winnable race compared to how it could have looked at the Ante-Post stage. The strong form of HIGHLANDS LEGACY is there for all to see though, and I had him very high on my Grand Annual list before he was sadly balloted out of that Cheltenham race.

On Chase debut in October he stayed on well at Worcester to record a cosy two length success, and next time at Aintree he ran a brilliant race for second behind Mambonumberfive (146) when aiming to give that rival 1lb at the weights. His best piece of form came at Newbury in December however, as he ran a belter for second behind one of the most progressive horses of the season in Mighty Bandit (152). Not only that, but he even had Lookaway (145) 1.25 lengths behind, and that rival has won twice since including the Ladbrokes Trophy at Kempton.

HIGHLANDS LEGACY got his head back in front at Windsor in January with a pleasingly game effort, and I would actually mark that performance up further as I am not a big fan of the track at all. I do not think he was in love with the Soft ground that day either, so returning a sounder surface in the Spring is surely going to see him improve further. It is also worth noting that he had Sans Bruit almost ten lengths behind that day, and he will only 3lbs worse off at the weights on Thursday.

The 81-day break between then and now will probably have done him a bit of good considering he was busy enough in the first half of the season, but the return to Good ground should be exactly

what he needs, and the Red Rum looks like the perfect race for him as Aintree seems to suit well. Assuming he has improved on that November run as all his form suggests, he should have huge claims here, and I cannot see him finishing out of the frame.

Your Next Aintree Read

Andy Holding's Day 1 Aintree Tips

Liam Firkin's Day 1 Aintree Tips

Racing Lee's Day 1 Aintree Tips

Road to Cheltenham's Day 1 Aintree Tips

Ginger Joe's Tips for Day 1 Aintree Festival

Steve Ryder's Free Tips for Aintree Festival Day 1

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