Friday’s Aintree Tips: Tom Collins tackles the competitive handicap hurdles

Gerri Colombe, Fakir D’Oudairies and Pic D’Orhy are among the stars on show at Aintree on Friday, but, much like on day one, it’s the competitive handicaps that interest me.

First up is the 2m4f handicap hurdle (2.20), which has drawn a maximum field of 22 runners. This event has proved difficult for punters in recent years with six of the last nine renewals going the way of a horse sent off at a double-figure price. However, Dan Skelton’s Langer Dan bucked that trend last year by sluicing up at 4/1.

An array of Cheltenham Festival also-rans will take each other on for this £75,000 prize pot and, although I respect Irish challenger Buddy One and Sam Thomas’ Good Risk At All, they have more to prove than Camprond, who is undoubtedly the most logical choice for win purposes.

Philip Hobbs and Johnson White have campaigned this seven-year-old wisely after two failed attempts over fences earlier in the season. A couple of runs since over an inadequate two-mile trip helped his mark tumble, while a break from early February got him spot on for a crack at both of Great Britain’s major jumps festivals.

Camprond is usually well-found in the market - his talent is no secret - but he was sent off at an unconsidered 20/1 for the Coral Cup last month and ran an absolute cracker to finish a close-up third. He held a three-length advantage in the homestraight and might have won if he didn’t steady into the last hurdle or hang to the stands’ side rail. The handicapper gave him 5lb for that performance, which seems lenient enough, and now he returns to his favourite track.

This horse has historically performed well in April after a spin elsewhere during the previous month. Camprond won at Taunton in March 2021 before taking second in the final race on this card, while he finished fourth in the 2022 Coral Cup before plundering a highly competitive handicap hurdle at Punchestown’s April festival. I like him to continue that trend here.

Although I strongly fancy him to get the job done, I will also have a saver on Harry Derham’s Dargiannini. One of a very limited number of fresh horses in this field, Dargiannini has notably improved since joining this yard and he backed up an impressive Uttoxeter victory with a wide-margin Newbury success in early March.

He was completely dominant in that contest and you can mark up his performance further as he almost had his back legs taken away from him by a falling rival on the first circuit. A 7lb rise in the weights is pretty fair - it could have been 10lb given his authority - and the ground and track should suit him.

I’m also going to throw a dart at the conditional and amateur jockeys’ handicap hurdle (5.15 Aintree) that closes the card. All the money has come for Jamie Codd’s mount, Go Dante, as well as a couple of Irish challengers in Nibiru and Gaoth Chuil, but I’m siding with the Brits here in the form of JPR One.

Backing Tizzard-trained horses at Aintree’s Grand National meeting has been an angle that I have exploited in recent years, and I don’t want to relent this time around. JPR One appears to be their best chance of the day as he remains exceptionally well treated off a mark of 131 considering connections believed he was capable of performing in Grade 1 races last season.

He was impressive last time at Taunton after a monster absence and, with further improvement likely and the booking of crack conditional Harry Kimber providing extra confidence, I will be disappointed if JPR One doesn’t run a screamer at a double-figure price.

Friday’s Aintree Tips

Camprond (2.20 Aintree) @ 7.6
Dargiannini (2.20 Aintree) @ 11
JPR One (5.15 Aintree) @ 12