Aintree Bowl 2022

It’s very hard to forget how exciting and eclectic the racing is in the post-Cheltenham period, as not even a week after a fascinating Ayr Scottish Grand National festival, we are treated to the three-day bonanza that is the Aintree Grand National meeting.

Entries are perhaps not as plentiful in the graded races as many will desire, but there is a real degree of quality among them, and as ever the age-old quandary of proven Cheltenham Festival form pitted against the fresher angle of a horse aimed at this particular meeting will prove central.

Chief among the races where this slant will feature highly is the Betway Bowl Chase at 2.55 at Aintree on Thursday – as topping the market is the Cheltenham Gold Cup third Protektorat, with the fifth home in the blue riband Royale Pagaille available at best price of 13/2.

The Ryanair Chase form is also well represented, with Eldorado Allen third in that race available at 13/2 with Paddy Power and Betfair Sportsbook, and also last fence faller Conflated a top price of 4/1.

The other two horses at single figure prices are previous winners of this race, but perhaps Kemboy and Clan Des Obeaux (despite being trained by past masters Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls) have had their respective days in the sun. Just of late, they have been a little off the high standards shown in their peak years.

If it rained incessantly early in the week, then perhaps mudlark Bristol De Mai could come into it, but while there is rainfall forecast, it is nicely spaced out and in (forecast) amounts that would just probably maintain as good to soft, maybe soft in places.

For all that the prices are defensively spaced, I do quite strongly feel that Eldorado Allen is the each-way bet at 13/2 right now with Paddy Power or Betfair Sportsbook for 3 places. One of the angles is that we could see a smallish field, as Fakir D’Oudairies is surely more likely to run in the Melling Chase, and some of the Cheltenham runners perhaps not guaranteed runners, so getting those 3 places is handy.

The Gold Cup pair will have obviously had hard races in one of the most gruelling races of the calendar, while Conflated coming off the back of a fall is less than ideal. Which leaves Eldorado Allen as the one horse who could defy that three-week Cheltenham/Aintree gap, and for all that his Ryanair third could have left a mark, I’m willing to view his unexposed nature at staying trips as more than enough counter-balance to that argument.

At 13/2 each-way for 3 places with Paddy Power and Betfair Sportsbook, Eldorado Allen has only had one chance at a trip in excess of about 2m4f, and it produced a career best when winning the Denman Chase at Newbury. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that he is a bigger price for the Betway Bowl than two horses he beat comfortably that day, Royale Pagaille and Clan Des Obeaux.

There is more than a whiff of Sizing John about Eldorado Allen, as for Sizing John’s nemesis Douvan you can transplant in Eldorado Allen’s regular 2m conqueror Shishkin. Sizing John took off when stepping up in trip, and Eldorado Allen is a live candidate to do very similar.

Eldorado Allen’s pedigree screams stamina, and in addition to the observation that he was having a good old look around on the run-in at Newbury in the Denman Chase, there is clearly much more in the locker for Colin Tizzard’s likable grey.

In the Ryanair Chase, he was the only horse able to, or perhaps willing to get anywhere near the behemoth that is Allaho for the first half of the race, and so, that he was still able to gallop on into third was a not-insignificant effort.

Obviously, the worry could be that this run could have left a mark on Eldorado Allen, but given the stable’s horses are in much better fettle this season, and that stepping up in trip to a distance more in-keeping with his pedigree, will allow him to settle into a nice energy-saving rhythm early, the Betway Bowl on ‘good to soft’ or ‘soft’ is potentially a perfect race for him.

At 13/2 each-way with Paddy Power or Betfair Sportsbook for the Betway Bowl Chase at 2.55 at Aintree on Thursday looks the standout ante-post bet of the opening day of the three days on Merseyside.