No Day Of Rest For God’s Own At Aintree

With Cheltenham, Punchestown and Aintree all staging good competitive cards this weekend there’s no surer sign that the jump racing season is about to move up a gear and on Sunday it is Aintree that takes centre stage.

God Send
Former champion chase winner Sire De Grugy features in the Grade 2 Old Roan Chase but Tom George’s God’s Own looks to be one of the bets of the weekend.
The eight-year-old had a profitable end to last season after running a blinder to finish fourth in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham before winning Grade 1’s at both Aintree and Punchestown and his trainer is not sending out many negative signals either.

“He’s in good form, has had a nice preparation and should enjoy the good ground,” said George.

At 4/1 he looks a generous price

…and it could be a first big winner for Adrian Heskin since linking up with George earlier in the summer.

War At Leopardstown
Leopardstown’s flat card is an intriguing one but certainly looks tricky from a punting perspective. It’s brilliant to see Zawraq back in action but later in the card a horse that could run well at a price is the Liam Cusack-trained Bog War.

Since winning at the Galway and Punchestown festivals last year, Bog War has failed to inspire in two subsequent runs but Gary Halpin claims a valuable 3lbs off him and that brings him back to just a pound higher than his winning Galway mark.

At a decent price he could be one that gets involved and any market confidence from a shrewd yard would be very welcome.

Earlier on the card Holistic Approach is given a tentative selection in the Killavullen Stakes. Jim Bolger’s charge made an impressive debut at the Curragh and shaped like a colt who would come on massively from that experience. If there is more to come from that he could pose a major threat in this Group 3 contest.

Recommended Bets:
Holistic Approach (4/1) – 3.05 Leopardstown
God’s Own (7/2) – 3.50 Aintree
Bog War – (16/1) 4.50 Leopardstown

*Prices correct at time of publication.