Finian´s Rainbow expected to dominate John Smith´s Melling Chase Grade 1
Finian´s Rainbow has been rated favourite for the John Smith´s Melling Chase Grade 1 at Aintree in England on Friday, April 13, 2012. The winner of the class-1 event will walk away with a cash prize of £98,473.
The going will be good to soft in the 2 mile 4 furlong race, which is scheduled to start at 15:05 GMT, and a total of eight entries have been confirmed. Following are the names of the runners lined up for action: Finian´s Rainbow, Albertas Run, Poquelin,
Kauto Stone, Wishfull Thinking, Forpadydeplasterer, Kalahari King and Pure Faith.
Looking at the record of Finian´s Rainbow, it seems that he will be able to win today’s race comfortably. The bookmakers have full faith in his abilities and the punters are also likely to place maximum number of bets in his favour.
The nine-year-old gelding seems to be an expert, when it comes to chase races. He has entered eight of such events, winning six of them. In addition to that, he has also secured a couple of runner up positions, which means that he has never dropped out of
the top two.
The Nicky Henderson’s trained runner has been impressive since making debut in the sport and seems to be unstoppable at the moment. He is carrying very good momentum, as he finished on top of the table in his most recent outing.
Finian´s Rainbow will be partnered by Barry Geraghty, who is a very good rider. He has won 95 chase races at a decent strike rate and will be eying a strong show at Aintree today.
On the other hand, the punters might also risk some money in favour of Albertas Run, who is a seasoned runner. He has entered 26 chase events until now, winning nine of them. Moreover, he has also finished runner up on five occasions and secured third place
four times in his career.
Importantly, the 11-year-old gelding’s recent form is also very good, as he finished runner up in his previous outing.
The Jonjo O'Neill’s trainee will be partnered by veteran jockey, A. P. McCoy, who has won 316 chase races at an impressive strike rate.
It will be difficult for the rest of the participants to match Finian´s Rainbow and Albertas Run. However, Poquelin might spring up a surprise, as he is a fierce competitor.
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