Paul Nicholls has admitted he is approaching last chance saloon with Cyrname after the talented but frustrating nine-year-old was pulled up for the third succes
1 of 1 UPDATED 8:42AM, APR 8 2021
ITV will be broadcasting five live races from the 2021 Grand National meeting at Aintree on Thursday. The action on day one features some high-class names, notably Tiger Roll, Buveur D Air and Native River, and we ve got you covered for the day s terrestrial TV coverage.
Aintree Thursday: ITV Racing tips
Our Spotlight experts select their best bets for the opening day of the Grand National festival
Doom Bar Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle, Grade 1, 2m1f
Paul Nicholls deliberately avoided the temptation of the Cheltenham Festival with the high-class Monmiral in favour of this contest and he bids to extend his unbeaten record to four on his first try at Grade 1 level. His main rival is already a top-level winner in Adagio, who heads to Merseyside after finishing a fine second in the Triumph Hurdle at Prestbury Park last month.
WITH the Cheltenham Festival next week I will dwell on the weekend action briefly before going through my selections for the four days of the big meeting.
As far as tomorrow is concerned, I make former smart flat performer NATURAL HISTORY (NAP) the best bet of the day in the feature betting event, the Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle at Sandown Park.
He was a progressive middle distance charge on the flat last year culminating in a cracking second to Euchen Glen in the Group Three St Simon Stakes at Newbury.
On his three starts to date over timber, the lightly raced six-year-old has finished second twice on unsuitably deep ground and then finally grabbed his first gold medal when hacking up on good ground at Plumpton last time out.