Aintree: Grey Dawning looks for first local win in Melling Chase
The 9-year-old gelding Grey Dawning has won Grade 1 races in famous events at Cheltenham Racecourse and Haydock Park in Britain in the last two years.
Aintree Racecourse, north of Liverpool, has not been as productive of a venue.
Grey Dawning is winless in five career starts at Aintree, but has run well enough to merit support in Friday’s Grade 1 Melling Chase at 2 1/2 miles. The $335,500 Melling Chase is the leading race on the second of the three-day Grand National meeting.
The famous Grand National steeplechase will be run on Saturday.
Grey Dawning is trained by Dan Skelton, who leads British trainers in earnings in jump races this year.
In recent years at Aintree, Grey Dawning has finished second in a novices’ hurdle in 2022, fell in a Grade 1 novices’ hurdle in 2023, ran third in a Grade 1 novices’ chase in 2024 and was second to Gaelic Warrior in the Grade 1 Bowl Chase at 3 3/16 miles last year.
Grey Dawning won the Grade 1 Betfair Chase at Haydock Park in January, and was fourth behind runaway winner Gaelic Warrior in the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup at 3 5/16 miles on March 13 at 16-1.
In the Melling Chase, Grey Dawning is rated as a potential favorite, along with Heart Wood. On Wednesday, Heart Wood was 13-8 with British bookmakers, while Grey Dawning was 7-4.
The distance of the Melling Chase is sharper than Grey Dawning’s last seven starts, which have been in races of about three miles or more. Grey Dawning won the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase at 2 1/2 miles at Cheltenham in 2024.
Heart Wood will not be easy to beat. An 8-year-old gelding trained in Ireland by Henry De Bromhead, Heart Wood cruised to a 10-length win in the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase at 2 1/2 miles at Cheltenham on March 12.
The Ryanair and Melling chases are two of the leading jump races at 2 1/2 miles in Britain.
Aintree has a seven-race program on Friday with three other Grade 1 races, all for novices.
Salver and Wendigo, who finished third and fell in a Grade 1 novices’ chase at 3 1/8 miles at Cheltenham on March 11, will dominate betting in the $161,000 Mildmay Novices’ Chase at 3 1/8 miles, Friday’s second race.
The shortest price favorite of the day will be Sober Glory, who was 4-5 on Wednesday to win a $134,200 novices’ hurdle at 2 1/16 miles. Sober Glory was second to the highly-rated Old Park Star in a novices’ hurdle at 2 1/16 miles at Cheltenham on March 10.
The $134,200 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at 3 1/16 miles drew 13, including a red-hot favorite in Johnny’s Jury and the perplexing 6-year-old gelding No Drama This End, who had a three-race winning streak end when he was pulled up in the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Hurdle at 2 5/8 miles Cheltenham on March 11 after racing in traffic in the last mile.
Johnny’s Jury will be favored in the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle on the basis of a come-from-behind win at 20-1 in the Grade 1 Albert Bartless Novices’ Hurdle at three miles at Cheltenham on March 13. Johnny’s Jury has won from a stalking position in his brief career.
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