William Hill Handicap Chase – 2.30 Aintree – Saturday 11th April

We’ve seen on countless occasions this season, and indeed many before, just how good a target trainer Dan Skelton is and if you needed reminding about his handicap-winning exploits at the Cheltenham Festival then you’re probably not paying enough attention!

It will be the same at Aintree over the next few days, as looking down his potential runners there is a lovely mix of class performers who either come here fresh or off the back of an excellent effort at Cheltenham, but the one horse of his who I’ve been waiting and waiting for this season is Mr Hope Street.

A progressive handicap hurdler, everything he did in that sphere suggested that he was going to be much better over fences. Starting off his chasing career at Carlisle in October, at first glance his 6^th place finish wouldn’t excite too much, but time has told that that race was just about the most notable race run all year in terms of pointers to future winners.

Moving on to a graduation chase at Haydock Park, Mr Hope Street ran a race full of promise behind King George hero The Jukebox Man and classy Grand National contender Iroko where much like Carlisle, he jumped and travelled like a very good horse.

The handicapper was extremely lenient in only raising Mr Hope Street to 131, which was the mark he ran off on handicap debut at Sandown Park last month where having been off the track for 3 months, he blatantly needed the run on ground softer than ideal. But again, he jumped and travelled like a good’un.

The William Hill Handicap Chase at 2.30 at Aintree on Saturday is always a competitive handicap, and this year is no different with plenty of in-form handicappers and horses who come back to a place where they’ve thrived before.

However, Mr Hope Street is a completely unexposed novice and looking back through the type of horse that often wins this race, it is exactly that. Skelton could have maybe waited for the novice handicap chase at Ayr’s Scottish Grand National meeting, but ever forward-thinking, he’d rather take on potentially exposed older handicappers.

At 7/1 each-way with BetMGM or Virgin Bet, Mr Hope Street is a 2-star ** ante-post selection for WhichBookie, and widely available at 6/1 elsewhere he is a bet at anything down to 4/1 in my eyes, given how punters could easily latch on to him following declarations on Thursday.