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Kevin Blake says it may pay to back Found A Fifty
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Absolute Notions completes Elliott double
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Look out for horses that missed Cheltenham
The second day of the Aintree Grand National meeting is always a high-quality card of action and this year is no different.
It is a generalisation, but it often pays to be sceptical when it comes to the prospect of Cheltenham Festival form being repeated at Aintree, as the effects of hard races can be difficult to shake off and Cheltenham form is usually under-priced at Aintree.
With that thought in mind, two that fit this profile make appeal to me on the card.
Elliott horse is fresh and entitled to improve
The Poundland Top Novices' Hurdle (14:55) is a really competitive race and promises to showcase a few different form lines from the Cheltenham Festival, but it is one that was kept away from the heat of the Cheltenham fire that I am favouring in the shape of the Gordon Elliott-trained Found A Fifty.
The six-year-old has come a long way in a relatively short space of time, making his hurdling debut in late-January a winning one in a maiden at Fairyhouse, lowering the colours of the highly-regarded Parmenion.
He was stepped right up in class for his next start in a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Naas and very nearly got the job done, finding just Corbetts Cross a head too good for him. That rival was in the process of boosting that form in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival only for him to run out through the wing of the final flight.
Found A Fifty is very much entitled to improve again from that first very competitive experience over hurdles. This track promises to suit him well and that he comes here fresh having skipped the Cheltenham Festival can only be a good thing. He looks to have strong prospects.
Absolute Notions to set to run big race
Gordon Elliott looks to have another big chance in the Winners Wear Cavani Sefton Novices' Hurdle (16:40) with Absolute Notions. The five-year-old has been lightly raced this season, winning a maiden hurdle at Punchestown prior to running well when third to Inthepocket in a Grade 3 novice hurdle at Naas in December.
However, it was his run in the Grade 1 novice hurdle that was won by Good Land at the Dublin Racing Festival that makes him interesting in this contest. He didn't enjoy the clearest of passages that day, but came home very well to be beaten just 1½ lengths in second.
The form of the race stood up quite well at the Cheltenham Festival with both the winner and the third Sandor Clegane running well in their respective Grade 1 novice hurdles, but Absolute Notions was kept at home with a view to waiting for this meeting.
Absolute Notions promises to be very well suited by this longer trip and he seems sure to be open to more improvement. Davy Russell will take the ride and he looks set to run a very big race.