Fakir D’Oudairies was the sixth horse to win the Grade One Melling Chase for a second time when he came home five-and-a-half lengths in front of Hitman 12 months ago, but he will be the first to complete a hat-trick if he can overcome six opponents at Aintree on Friday.
Joseph O’Brien’s chaser was sent off at odds-on last year on the back of a Grade One win in the Ascot Chase in February, but he was third in the same event this season behind Thursday’s Bowl winner, Shishkin.
Pic D’Orhy, his main market rival, was seven lengths in front of Fakir D’Ourdairies (3.30) there, but Aintree seems to bring out the very best in the eight-year-old and first-time cheekpieces could also aid his cause.
Aintree 2.20 Harry Derham has made a hugely impressive start to his training career after graduating from his role as Paul Nicholls’s assistant and Dargiannini, who made the move with him from the champion trainer’s yard, could supply him with his most valuable success to date in this tightly knit handicap hurdle. He was a faller on his first start for his new stable, but has since contributed two victories that have helped to push Derham’s strike rate to 28%. He had plenty to spare last time and arrives fresh after bypassing Cheltenham so it should not be beyond him to defy a 7lb rise in the weights.
Aintree 2.55 Davy Russell’s unexpected return to race-riding to cover for the injured Jack Kennedy has not progressed without the occasional bump in the road, but he has a definite chance to get another Grade One on his record aboard Gordon Elliott’s Found A Fifty. The six-year-old was touched off by the highly promising Corbetts Cross at Naas in February and that form was franked when the winner ran a huge race to the final flight in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham last month.
Aintree 4.05 As ever, an array of possibilities for the Topham Handicap Chase over the National fences. Burrows Saint and Haut En Couleurs will have plenty of support to give Willie Mullins a third win in the past four runnings, while Ashtown Lad won his only previous start over the big spruce fences in the Becher Chase in December. Al Dancer, though, is the only course-and-distance winner in the field and has seemingly been prepared with this race in mind since his Grand Sefton success in November.
Leicester 1.30 Another Run 2.00 Regal Fighter 2.35 Timeless Melody 3.10 Gorak 3.45 Doctor Mozart 4.15 Sonnerie Power 4.55 Hiromichi
Aintree 1.45 Gerri Colombe 2.20 Dargiannini (nb) 2.55 Found A Fifty 3.30 Fakir D’Oudairies 4.05 Al Dancer (nap) 4.40 Grey Dawning 5.15 Advanced Virgo
Sedgefield 2.10 Rambo T 2.45 Road Warrior 3.20 Thunderclap 3.55 Chemical Warfare 4.30 The Blame Game 5.05 Skyhill 5.35 Edgar Allan Poe
Southwell 5.00 Cinnodin 5.30 Got Bright 6.00 H Key Lails 6.30 My Minervina 7.00 Spirit Of Bowland 7.30 Mahboobah 8.00 Mojeyrr 8.30 Hit Mac
Aintree 4.40 Stay Away Fay is the form horse after a battling win in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham, but that was a tough race and there must be a worry that it will take the edge off Paul Nicholls’s runner. There are no such concerns about Grey Dawning who has not been out since an impressive win in the Leamington Novice Hurdle in January. He appeals as the better bet at the prices as he steps up to what promises to be his ideal trip.
