Daryl Carter's Tips: He will be exceptionally hard to beat at Aintree 9/4

• Chance Gino to get it right first time out in Old Roan

• Crambo is surely better than his rating of 133

• Pembroke can score dropped in grade

14:00 Aintree - Back Datsalrightgino @ 8/19.00 1pt

There's little doubt in my mind that the best-handicapped horse in this race if reproducing the performances we came to expect 687 days ago, is Dan Skelton's My Drogo.

However, he has been off the track with a tendon injury, and indeed, the aim today is to get him back on a racecourse with the future at the forefront of his trainer's mind.

For that reason, he is best watched. Hitman is vulnerable to something well-treated and on the upgrade, and his finishing efforts have not been strong over this trip (he outbattled in this race last year).

He is likely to run to his rating, so he must be on any shortlist, and perhaps he has an excuse for his last run here in April, with that effort coming too soon following a great run at the Cheltenham Festival.

Tommy's Oscar is going the right way and has now finished in the first two on all of his six starts over fences, and with a good reappearance under his belt, he could progress into a useful chaser. Still, I would be much happier backing him over 2m rather than this 2m4f for which he is untried to a degree.

This Aintree track rewards horses with a strong late finishing burst, and it could be tailor-made for the progressive Datsalrightgino - 8/19.00 on the Betfair Sportsbook. His ultimate aim is the Coral Gold Cup over 3m, but it's not guaranteed he will get the trip or avoid potential Grade 1 horses. Still, this is a nice prize (45k) and would be the most valuable to date in his career.

He finished out last season with an excellent win at Ayr over Thunder Rock and our recent winner, Unexpected Party, and today's rival, Hang In There - who is now rated 11 lbs higher.

His best work came at the finish, and he relished the long home straight, which allowed for his strong late burst.

This track is similar on that front, and providing he can go the early pace and jump well enough to keep himself in the contest before that point, there is a good chance he will be finishing strongest of all.

With a good record fresh and reports suggesting he has strengthened up over the summer, this race could prove well within reach of the seven-year-old.

He is worth chancing to be straight the first time up, and he hasn't got much to find on all known form, but he looks like the horse in the race outside of My Drogo with the scope to improve his rating this season.

15:10 Aintree - Back Crambo @ 9/43.25 2.5pt

This is a tricky little race with plenty of these runners unexposed and holding the potential to make into better second-season hurdlers, and none more so than Fergal O'Brien's Crambo - 9/43.25 on the Betfair Sportsbook.

He finished with running left when tried in a Grade 1 at the Aintree meeting back in April, having tanked through a well-run race before being hampered by the fall of Cool Survivor directly in front of him at the third last as the race hotted up. Still, he wasn't disgraced in seventh, and his previous Grade 3 victory at Sandown in the Series Final is a strong piece of form.

He pulled well clear with Inneston on deep ground, having raced freely in the early part of the contest, and that race has worked out well. The runner-up is rated 127, and a subsequent scorer, the eight-length third, won next time at Ayr, beating today's rival Houvari and is rated 132; the fourth has yet to run but was behind the useful Strong Leader two starts before. The fifth won the next time out, the sixth won a very strong 0-145 next time at the same venue and is now rated 134, and the eighth won the next time out.

We have yet to see the best of Crambo, and with this just his second start in a handicap. He holds two of the best time figures in the race on his last two starts, has strong bumper form and has proven to go well fresh.

He won't mind what the ground does, having acted on heavy at Sandown, and he ticks many boxes to land this contest off of a workable mark of 133.

Slip Road is one of the more interesting runners, but, strangely, he has moved to Peter Bowen. He held some ability when last seen 1058 days ago.

Back the selection at BSP given the promise, a few of these hold.

15:45 Aintree - Back Pembroke @ 5/42.25 2pt

This is an ordinary Novice Chase event that Pembroke - currently 5/42.25 on the Betfair Sportsbook - signalled on his chase debut at Uttoxeter that he could easily manage. Hence, he gets a confident vote to get off the mark over fences at the second attempt and take advantage of this drop in grade.

He jumped fluently at Uttoxeter, was clever at the third, elegant at the seventh and good when asked under pressure. He has a bright future in this division on that evidence, and his rating of 135 is well within reach with natural progression.

He ran well at this venue when a staying-on in the Top Novices Hurdle after flopping when favourite for the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, having been given too much to do from the rear of the field.

He is worth another chance with this race, a world away from his final effort last season, but back at BSP with likely support for one or two others.