Horses that impressed Tom from the 2022 Aintree Festival
The 3-day meeting at Aintree this year did not disappoint at all, there were some very good performances and horses to follow going forward. I have picked out 3 horses that I think will go onto better things and hopefully go well in future Grade 1’s.
- Jonbon – People have criticised Jonbon for his attitude before races but I think he has learnt a lot this season and seems to be turning into a very useful horse. He has not done a lot wrong this year and showed very good battling qualities at Aintree in beating El Fabiolo, who looks a very useful horse himself. Jonbon is a chaser all over and I think he for sure wants a step up in trip. I can see Nicky Henderson targeting him for the 2-and-a-half-mile novice chase at the Cheltenham festival next year, which you can get around 7/1 for. El Fabiolo put up a much tougher test than I thought he would do at Aintree as he has very little experience. So, k both of these horses are very talented and I think Jonbon will be even better next year over fences with a step up in trip as this should bring out further improvement.
- Gentleman De Mee – He is a keen front runner and got a very good ride by Mark Walsh at Aintree, but I don’t think there was any fluke about his victory over Edwardstone. Now, I didn’t back Edwardstone in the Arkle as I have always thought there will be one horse that is slightly more talented than him in the 2-mile novice chase division. Finally, he got beat this year at Aintree and even though you can argue it is at the end of a long season, I still think he ran his race and there was nothing to suggest he didn’t. Gentleman De Mee got a bit of a freebie on the front end, but I think he is one to follow going forward and was going further clear at the finish. He is around 14/1 for next year’s Champion Chase at Cheltenham, I don’t see him beating Shishkin and Energumene but he will pick up grade 1’s on the way there I am sure of it. I wouldn’t be following Edwardstone next year, it would be Gentleman De Mee.
- Pied Piper – Now this horse will find next season difficult as many juveniles do in their 5-year-old campaign, but he travelled like the best horse in his race at Aintree. Visually he was tanking along under Davy Russell but he got there far too soon and gave Paddy Brennan on Knight Salute a target to run at which horses find easier to do. The race finished in a dead heat, but Stewards gave the race to Knight Salute. I think this is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen by the stewards, literally zero interference and it happened at the last hurdle, never seen a race get changed this far out! Pied Piper is 100% the best horse in here and it emphasises my thoughts on Vauban, who must be a monster. Pied Piper will be interesting going forward to see how he develops, but definitely a very talented horse.
