3:30 Aintree Tips

The two runners who fought out the finish in the Hunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival once again lock horns. Barton Snow has raced four times this season and won them all. In total, he has raced five times over the larger obstacles and is yet to be beaten. Ground conditions should not be an issue, as he has won on Good, Good to Soft, and Soft. At Cheltenham he won by a neck, but the last time he ran over a similar distance to today he won by over four lengths. Providing he takes to the Aintree fences, then every chance the same jockey who rode him to victory at Cheltenham can do the same at Liverpool.

Emmet Mullins' stable took the big prizes at Fairyhouse on Monday. There was not much between Its On The Line and Barton Snow at Cheltenham. Its On The Line has the experience as a course-and-distance winner.

1-4 from the Cheltenham Hunter Chase come here for this shorter version, and that all again probably favors Barton Snow in truth. He’s a worthy favorite, but the one I liked at the prices with five places available was Let’s Go Champ. Clearly not without issues, being a lightly raced 11-year-old. He went well last time when beating Hunters Yarn, getting just 2 lbs, who commands a rating of 153. He looked to be on the way to winning recently when falling late. This horse also beat Journey With Me and City Chief before that; both of those wins have boosted that form. Both wins were on heavy ground, and he looks more capable on good ground, so you can perhaps right the up even more. 5/1 JF when pulling up in a Grade 3 this time last year??'there’s a chance he could just be swinging from the front rank. With a guarantee largely that he’ll stay, hopefully he can take some of these off their feet if he can go the pace, as there doesn’t appear to be bundles of it.

The 10-year-old has nice career stats: first or second in 9 of 15 chase races, £124K in chase prize money, with most of his races coming in graded company. He was below par in his last campaign, but he was still racing off a useful 149 rating. He seems in good shape after two recent hunter chase wins. Strong jockey booking for this hunter chase.

This horse has won this race in the past. He enjoys these specialist fences, and with his current form holding up, he should be competitive in an open-looking contest.

This horse is another who has run well previously over these fences, taking on seasoned handicappers. It enjoys the hurly-burly of these big fields here and can reward each-way support in this race.