Aintree Festival 2023: Aintree Bowl tips - Ahoy Senor to bounce back after Gold Cup tumble
Ahoy Senor and Derek Fox wins the Mildmay Novices' Chase
The 2023 Aintree Bowl might just give us a race to remember and even the unfortunate enforced withdrawal of Bravemangame should not reduce the quality of this renewal.
Conflated finished third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which also included Ahoy Senor and 2022 winner A Plus Tard, both of whom failed to finish.
Add popular stayer Shishkin and Ga Law (fifth in the Ryanair) into the mix, and you're left with a race brimming with top-class chasers.
Conflated also finished runner-up in this race last year, and with dual winner Clan Des Obeaux now retired, he will be looking to go one better.
The absence Bravemansgame leaves Ahoy Senor as our top pick, if he can rekindle the performance he showed at Cheltenham before blundering to tumble when well-placed six fences out.
He was running smoothly and jumping boldly throughout and despite his normal jockey Derek Fox giving up the ride in a race to get fit for the Grand National, he is sure to have advised the more-than-capable Brian Hughes on how to get the best out of this impressive chaser.
