Aintree Accumulator: four horses worth including in your combination bet

Landing an accumulator is the ultimate dream for punters and, with the 2021/22 jump season drawing to a close, national hunt fans will have their eyes firmly fixed on Aintree to achieve the betting feat. So, who is worth including in the weekly multiple? SBK tipster Tom Collins is on hand to make your job easier.

Irish-trained runners dominated the market for a number of high-profile races at this year’s Cheltenham festival, thus creating the perfect opportunity for a combination bet, but the Aintree fields appear competitive and lack obvious standouts. 

The Jewson 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle is the exception on day one of the Grand National meeting as Triumph Hurdle third Pied Piper and Boodles winner Brazil face-off in a highly anticipated match between two classy sorts.

Only 1lb splits the rivals on official ratings, but the Triumph usually proves to be the stronger of the two Cheltenham heats and Pied Piper was perhaps poorly positioned in a race otherwise dominated by those on the speed. Brazil, on the other hand, was always in the firing line in the Boodles and might have been fortunate to win given Gaelic Warrior’s air of dominance throughout. 

As a result, the smooth-travelling Pied Piper (6/5) has to be the play under Davy Russell. Gordon Elliott’s four-year-old should get your combination bets off to a good start.

Another Irish-trained runner, this time Fakir D’Oudairies, heads the market for the Melling Chase on Friday - a race that so often goes to horses who showed up well at Cheltenham. The fact that Fakir D’Oudairies, who isn’t the best of jumpers, bypassed last month’s meeting might be a negative and I want to oppose him with Funambule Sivola (6/1). This improving two-miler flew up the hill to take second behind Energumene in the Champion Chase and ran Shishkin close at this course 12 months ago.

Arkle winner Edwardstone will be the banker of the Grand National meeting for many and, despite prohibitive odds (4/7), the impressive eight-year-old, who will run in Saturday’s Maghull Novices’ Chase, has to be included for trainer Alan King.

I wasn’t satisfied with the Stayers’ Hurdle last month - all of the riders in behind eventual winner Flooring Porter seemed to gift the race to Gavin Cromwell’s runner and he might be a false favourite as he attempts to confirm the form in the Liverpool Hurdle.

Preference is for Thyme Hill (3/1), who beat Roksana in a thrilling edition of this race last year and was clearly unsuited by the stop-start tempo at the festival last month. This flat track is ideal for Thyme Hill and hopes are high that he will bring home the money in the Aintree accumulator.

Recommended accumulator

1. Pied Piper (Jewson 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle, 2.20 Aintree, Thursday)
2. Funambule Sivola (Melling Chase, 3.30 Aintree, Friday)
3. Edwardstone (Maghull Novices’ Chase, 3.00 Aintree, Saturday)
4. Thyme Hill (Liverpool Hurdle, 3.35 Aintree, Saturday)

Odds at the time of writing: 95/1